Second messenger system

Second messengers are intracellular signaling molecules released by the cell to trigger physiological changes such as proliferation, differentiation, migration, survival, and apoptosis. Secondary messengers are therefore one of the initiating components of intracellular signal transduction cascades. Examples of second messenger molecules include cyclic AMP, cyclic GMP, inositol trisphosphate, diacylglycerol, and calcium. The cell releases second messenger molecules in response to exposure to extracellular signaling molecules—the first messengers. First messengers are extracellular factors, often hormones or neurotransmitters, such as epinephrine, growth hormone, and serotonin. Because peptide hormones and neurotransmitters typically are biochemically hydrophilic molecules, these first messengers may not physically cross the phospholipid bilayer cell membrane to initiate changes within the cell directly—unlike steroid hormones, which usually do. This functional limitation necessitates the cell to devise signal transduction mechanisms to transduce first messenger into second messengers, so that the extracellular signal may be propagated intracellularly. An important feature of the second messenger signaling system is that second messengers may be coupled downstream to multi-cyclic kinase cascades to greatly amplify the strength of the original first messenger signal. For example, Ras.GTP signals link with the Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) cascade to amplify the allosteric activation of proliferative transcription factors such as Myc and CREB.