INTERCELLULAR COMMUNICATION

SUMMARY

1. Cells communicate with each other via chemical messengers which bind to protein receptors on their surface, in the cytoplasm or the nucleus to trigger intracellular changes that produce an effect.

2. Types of intercellular communications: neural, endocrine, paracrine, juxtacrine (via cells linking other cells). Cells may stimulate themselves via autocrine communication.

3. These messengers are: amines, amino acids, steroids, polypeptides, lipids, purine/pyrimidine nucleotides. In various parts of the body, the same messenger can be a neurotransmitter, a paracrine mediator, or a hormone.

Reference(s)

Barrett, K.E., Barman, S.M., Boitano, S., Brooks, H.L., Weitz, M., Brian Patrick Kearns, Ganong, W.F. and Mcgraw-Hill Education (Firm (2016). Ganong’s review of medical physiology. 25th ed. New York: Mcgraw Hill Education.
Hall, J.E. and Hall, M.E. (2020). Guyton And Hall Textbook Of Medical Physiology. 14th ed. S.L.: Elsevier - Health Science.
West, J.B. and Luks, A.M. (2021). West’s Pulmonary Pathophysiology. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.