結構生物化學/細胞訊號通路/激素訊號
激素是重要的訊號分子，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).
激素訊號遵循以下步驟
- 在特定組織中生物合成特定激素
- 激素的儲存和分泌
- 激素向靶細胞的運輸
- 激素被相關的細胞膜或細胞內受體蛋白識別。
- 透過訊號轉導過程傳遞和放大接收到的激素訊號：這將導致細胞反應。靶細胞的反應可能會被原始產生激素的細胞識別，從而導致激素產生的下調。這是一個穩態負反饋迴路的例子。
- 激素的降解。
Becker, Wayne M, et al. 細胞的世界. 第 7 版。紐約：皮爾遜/本傑明·卡明斯，2009 年。印刷。 http://www.news-medical.net/health/Hormones-as-a-Signal.aspx