Chapter 11: Hormonal Homeostatic Control Pathways Flashcards
What are hormones?
A chemical produced by the body to prompt a response from specific cells
What is the endocrine system?
The glands of the body that produce hormones
What is the pituitary gland?
The ‘master’ gland that produces many hormones that affect hormone production by other endocrine glands
What are hydrophilic hormones?
A hormone that is soluble in water and binds to extracellular receptors to initiate a response in that cell; for example, peptide and some amine hormones
What are hydrophobic hormones?
A hormone that is insoluble in water and binds to intracellular receptors; for example, steroid and thyroid hormones
How do hormones target specific cells?
It will only effect cells that express receptors for a particular hormone
What is stasis?
Showing little or no change over time
What is upregulation?
When a cell is prompted to produce more of a particular cellular component, such as enzymes or receptors
What is downregulation?
When a cell is prompted to produce less of a particular cellular component, such as enzymes or receptors
What is a transcription factor?
A regulatory protein whose function is to activate or inhibit transcription of DNA by binding to specific DNA sequences
What is conformation?
The shape of a molecule that is determined by the three-dimensional arrangement of its atoms and bonds; important for molecular functioning
What are the three categories of extracellular receptors?
Ion channel receptors, G protein-coupled receptors and tyrosine kinase receptors
What is a G protein?
A protein that relays signals from a cell membrane G protein-coupled receptor to other signal transduction proteins inside the cell
What is phosphorylation?
The addition of a phosphate group to a protein or other organic molecule
What is a second messenger?
A small molecule that relays a signal from receptors on the cell surface to target molecules inside a cell
