Name: Chemical Messengers in Action
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 3 min 54 s
Description: We know that insulin reduces blood glucose levels, but exactly how does it accomplish such a vital task? Let's learn about the mechanism of hormone action in...

Question

What do you know about effects of hormones produced on target tissues? How are such specific effects produced?

Accepted Answer

Hormones, also referred to as chemical messengers, are synthesized secreted from a particular gland into the blood and exert a specific function upon the target cell. The activity of the target cell are influenced and also regulated by the hormone due to the presence of the respective hormone specific receptor molecules. Here, the hormone acts as a ligand molecule and binds with the receptor molecule, thus forming a hormone-receptor complex, which helps in the signal transduction process that initiates the alteration in the cellular activity of the target tissue.

Mainly two types of receptor are found- i) cell surface receptor or membrane-bound or transmembrane receptor, which is present on the plasma membrane of the target cell (e.g., the receptor for insulin hormone), and ii) intracellular receptor or nuclear receptor, which is present inside the cytoplasm of the target cell (for example, thyroid hormone receptor). These receptors, being hormone specific, allow the binding of the intended hormone, thus helps in the intracellular signal transduction and thus exert the specific effect (encoded by the hormone) to the target tissue.

Kavita Thareja and Dushyant Prajapati Solutions for Chapter: Chemical Coordination and Integration, Exercise 1: Chapter Practice

Kavita Thareja Biology Solutions for Exercise - Kavita Thareja and Dushyant Prajapati Solutions for Chapter: Chemical Coordination and Integration, Exercise 1: Chapter Practice

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