Hormonas peptídicas

Understanding Hormones and Their Mechanisms

What Are Hormones?

• Hormones are specialized substances secreted by cells that travel through the bloodstream to target cells, influencing their functions and facilitating cellular communication.

• Peptide hormones circulate in the blood bound to proteins, which protect them from degradation.

Mechanism of Action

• Hormonal action is mediated by specific membrane receptors located on the surface of target cells.

• These receptors are proteins that span the cell membrane, featuring an extracellular region for hormone binding and an intracellular region that interacts with second messengers.