Can anyone give me some chemicals that exist in the human body that we would die a slow death without if it suddenly stopped being produced? I have an event in a story I'm working on where super soldiers lack a vital chemical that is used as a means to make them dependent on the military (and thus keep them under control). I'd rather not make one up if anyone here knows of any or a place where I can find them. Yahoo and Google searches give lots of results but there is so much jargon in what I get I can't make heads or tails of it and wikipedia's Human Biology page is oddly small.
Collagen. Without it you would just melt. It's the body's scaffolding and the main reason that larger organisms are even possible. Lack of collagen is why the skin of the elderly is so very delicate. I used to work in an adult model daycare and I have seen the smallest of abrasions result in horrid wounds.
Thanks wrey. I looked it up and it's perfect. I was already thinking of using a protein XD. Somehow a super soldiers skin becoming all weak and easily wounded even seems ironic.
