second messenger

American  

noun

Biochemistry.

1. any of various intracellular chemical substances, as cyclic AMP, that transmit and amplify the messages delivered by a first messenger to specific receptors on the cell surface.

---

second messenger Cultural  

1. A molecule that relays messages in a cell from a receptor on a cell membrane to the final destination where an action within the cell is to take place. (See signal transduction pathway.)

---

Etymology

Origin of second messenger

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

second messenger

Hormone binding to receptor activates a G-protein, which in turn activates adenylyl cyclase, converting ATP to cAMP. cAMP is a second messenger that mediates a cell-specific response.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

It is a second messenger in many signaling pathways, and is essential for muscle contraction, nerve impulse transmission, and blood clotting.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

This intracellular mediator is called the second messenger.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

"I like to call it a second messenger," said Sutherland of AMP.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was then, while resting among her girls and discussing their early departure in the morning—which their lives of labor rendered necessary—that a second messenger arrived with a second message of disaster.

From The Sun Maid A Story of Fort Dearborn by Raymond, Evelyn