second messenger

American

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.

second messenger Cultural

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Calcium ion is a widely used second messenger.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

Not all water-soluble hormones initiate the cAMP second messenger system.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

The second messenger can then go on to cause changes in the neuron, such as opening or closing ion channels, metabolic changes, and changes in gene transcription.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

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

From Time Magazine Archive

From references in subsequent tablets, it seems certain that Anshar sends out Ea as a second messenger and that Ea also fails.

From The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria by Jastrow, Morris

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023