Three Steps In Cell Signaling

Molecular Biology of the Cell

Cell to Cell Signalling

Cell to Cell Signalling: From Experiments to Theoretical Models is a collection of papers from a NATO Workshop conducted in Belgium in September 1988. The book discusses nerve cells and neural networks involved in signal transfers. The works of Hodgkin and Huxley presents a prototypic combination between experimental and theoretical approaches. The book discusses the coupling process found between secretory cells that modify their behavior. The text also analyzes morphogenesis and development, and then emphasizes the pattern formation found in Drosophila and in the amphibian embryo. The text also cite examples of immunological modeling that is related to the dynamics of immune networks based on idiotypic regulation. One paper analyzes the immune dynamism of HIV infection. The text notes that hormone signaling can be attributed as responsible for intercellular communication. Another paper examines how the dominant follicle in the ovarian cycle is selected, as well as the effectiveness of hormone secretion responsible for encoding the frequency of occurrence of periodic signals. The book also discusses heart signal sources such as cardiac dynamics and the response of periodically excited cardiac cells. The text can prove valuable for practioners in the field of neurology and cardiovascular medicine, and for researchers in molecular biology and molecular chemistry.

Signal Transduction

Signal Transduction is a text reference on cellular signalling processes. Starting with the basics, it explains how cells respond to external cues (hormones, cytokines, neurotransmitters, adhesion molecules, extracellular matrix etc), and shows how these inputs are integrated and co-ordinated. The first half of the book provides the conceptual framework, explaining the formation and action of second messengers, particularly cyclic nucleotides and calcium, and the mediation of signal pathways by GTP-binding proteins. The remaining chapters deal with the formation of complex signalling cascades employed by cytokines and adhesion molecules, starting at the membrane and ending in the nucleus, there to regulate gene transcription. In this context, growth is an important potential outcome and this has relevance to the cellular transformations that underlie cancer. The book ends with a description at the molecular level of how signalling proteins interact with their environment and with each other through their structural domains. Each main topic is introduced with a historical essay, detailing the sources, key observations and experiments that set the scene for recent and current work.