Abstract: Communications between cells are performed by cell–cell contact or by chemical substances like neurotransmitters, hormones, cytokines, or growth factors. These chemical substances are secreted by a cell and recognized by receptors in target cells. The binding of these ligands to their receptors initiates a series of chemical reactions. Some hormones such as steroids and thyroxin pass through cell membranes and interact with their receptors inside the cell. Most other hormones and all known neurotransmitters, cytokines, and growth factors cannot penetrate cell membranes and bind to their receptors, which are transmembrane glycoproteins, on the surface of cells. Membrane-bound receptors are classified into three major groups, ion channel-coupled receptors (ICCR), G protein–coupled receptors (GPCR), and protein kinase-coupled receptors (PKCR). In this section, we describe the molecular properties of membrane-bound receptors and intracellular signals triggered by activation of these receptors.
Publication Year: 2006
Publication Date: 2006-09-14
Language: en
Type: reference-entry
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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