second messenger

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noun Biochemistry.

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

Words nearby second messenger

second lieutenant, secondly, second man, second mate, secondment, second messenger, second mortgage, second name, second nature, secondo, second of arc

Cultural definitions for second messenger

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.)