second messenger
- 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.
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Compare first messenger.
Origin of second messenger
First recorded in 1960–65
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
second messenger
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.)
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
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