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How Do Hormones Change Their Target Cells?

Technical Discussion

Hormones are chemical messengers that invoke profound changes within target cells. How is this accomplished? There are two fundamental mechanisms by which such changes occur:

Lay Interpretation

Here we examine the way a hormone actually makes something else happen.

  • Activation of enzymes and other dynamic molecules: Most enzymes shuttle between conformational states that are catalytically active versus inactive, on versus off. Many hormones affect their target cells by inducing such transitions, usually causing an activation of one of more enzymes. Because enzymes are catalytic and often serve to activate additional enzymes, a seemingly small change induced by hormone-receptor binding can lead to widespread consequences within the cell.

Enzymes are highly reactive chemicals, normally making a process occur or bringing another process into commencement.

Hormones often trigger activation of one or more enzymes within a cell, thus a limited number of receptor sites being activated can still bring about huge changes.

  • Modulation of gene expression: Stimulating transcription of a group of genes clearly can alter a cell's phenotype by leading to a burst of synthesis of new proteins. Similarly, if transcription of a group of previously active genes is shut off, the corresponding proteins will soon disappear from the cell.

More specifically, when a receptor becomes bound to a hormone, it undergoes a conformational change which allows it to interact productively with other components of the cells, leading ultimately to an alteration in the physiologic state of the cell.

A fascinating way hormones can act on a cell is genetic switching.

some hormones switch on and off parts of the genetic package of a cell.  This can radically alter the function and purpose of a cell.

 

Top of Page

Considerable information about a how a hormone acts can be gained by knowing the type of receptor it uses. Despite the molecular diversity of hormones, all hormone receptors can be categorized into one of two types, based on their location within the cell:

Location of Receptor

Classes of Hormones

Principle Mechanism of Action

Cell surface receptors (plasma membrane)

Proteins and peptides, catecholamines and eicosanoids

Generation of second messengers which alter the activity of other molecules - usually enzymes - within the cell

Intracellular receptors (cytoplasm and/or nucleus)

Steroids and thyroid hormones

Alter transcriptional activity of responsive genes

Thus, if introduced to a new steroid hormone, one can quickly deduce that it has an intracellular receptor and acts upon its target cells by affecting transcription.

With respect to the next two pages, all hormones except steroids and thyroid hormones react to cell surface receptors and are usually enzyme reactive.

Steroids and Thyroid hormones act on the genetic level and target receptors within a cell, rather than on its surface.

 

   

The technical information on these pages are the work of Professor Bowen et al, Colorado State University and are reproduced without endorsement of any kind.  The "lay" interpretations are the work of this site and do not necessarily reflect Professor Bowen's opinions.
 


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