结构生物化学/细胞信号通路/激素信号
激素是重要的信号分子，被[[]]使用。
plants and animals. “Hundreds of hormones can regulate a wide variety of physiological functions, including growth and development, rates of body processes, concentrations of substances, and responses to stress and injury” (Becker, et al. 416). Distance traveled by hormones can vary depending on hormones’ life span. Some hormones can last only seconds in blood stream, indicating short distance regulation. Hormones that are long distance traveler can have life spans ranging from minutes to even hours. Hormones also have different chemical properties. Generally, “hormones can fall into four different categories: amino acid derivative, peptides, proteins, and lipid-like hormones such as steroids” (416). Difference in their chemical properties allows hormones to bind to different receptors thereby regulating different pathways. For example, adrenergic hormones bind to a family of G proteins to increase the concentration of glucose in muscle cells (416-417).
激素信号遵循以下步骤
- 在特定组织中生物合成特定激素
- 激素的储存和分泌
- 激素向靶细胞的运输
- 激素被相关的细胞膜或细胞内受体蛋白识别。
- 通过信号转导过程传递和放大接收到的激素信号：这将导致细胞反应。靶细胞的反应可能会被原始产生激素的细胞识别，从而导致激素产生的下调。这是一个稳态负反馈回路的例子。
- 激素的降解。
Becker, Wayne M, et al. 细胞的世界. 第 7 版。纽约：皮尔逊/本杰明·卡明斯，2009 年。印刷。 http://www.news-medical.net/health/Hormones-as-a-Signal.aspx