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Overview of Cell Signaling

Overview of Cell Signaling

Despite the protective membrane that separates a cell from the environment, cells need the ability to detect and respond to environmental changes. Additionally, cells often need to communicate with one another. Unicellular and multicellular organisms use a variety of cell signaling mechanisms to communicate with the environment.
Cells respond to many types of information, often through receptor proteins positioned on the membrane. For example, skin cells respond to and transmit touch...

Overview of Cell Signaling

Overview of Cell Signaling

Despite the protective membrane that separates a cell from the environment, cells need the ability to detect and respond to environmental changes. Additionally, cells often need to communicate with one another. Unicellular and multicellular organisms use a variety of cell signaling mechanisms to communicate with the environment.
Cells respond to many types of information, often through receptor proteins positioned on the membrane. For example, skin cells respond to and transmit touch...

Interactions Between Signaling Pathways

Interactions Between Signaling Pathways

Signaling cascades usually lack linearity. Multiple pathways interact and regulate one another, allowing cells to integrate and respond to diverse environmental stimuli.
Convergence and divergence, and cross-talk between signaling pathways
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Contact-dependent Signaling

Contact-dependent Signaling

Contact-dependent signaling, as the name suggests, requires that communicating cells be in direct contact with each other. This is achieved either through receptor-ligand interactions or by specialized cytoplasmic channels that allow the flow of small molecules between cells. In animal cells, channels called gap junctions facilitate contact-dependent signaling in certain tissues, whereas, plasmodesmata perform a similar function in plants.
Gap Junctions
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Types of Signaling Molecules

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In multicellular organisms, many molecules transmit signals between cells to pass information. These signals vary in complexity and include small peptides, nucleotides, steroids, fatty acid derivatives, and dissolved gases such as nitric oxide. Some signaling molecules diffuse through the plasma membrane to act locally between neighboring cells or travel long distances. Others remain attached to the cell surface, transmitting information to other cells only when they make contact. In some...

Types of Signaling Molecules

Types of Signaling Molecules

In multicellular organisms, many molecules transmit signals between cells to pass information. These signals vary in complexity and include small peptides, nucleotides, steroids, fatty acid derivatives, and dissolved gases such as nitric oxide. Some signaling molecules diffuse through the plasma membrane to act locally between neighboring cells or travel long distances. Others remain attached to the cell surface, transmitting information to other cells only when they make contact. In some...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Integrating Visual Psychophysical Assays within a Y-Maze to Isolate the Role that Visual Features Play in Navigational Decisions

Integrating Visual Psychophysical Assays within a Y-Maze to Isolate the Role that Visual Features Play in Navigational Decisions

Published on: May 2, 2019

Visual map development: bidirectional signaling, bifunctional guidance molecules, and competition.

David A Feldheim¹, Dennis D M O'Leary

¹MCD Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA. feldheim@biology.ucsc.edu

Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology

|October 1, 2010

Summary

Neural topographic map formation relies on independent retinal axis mapping. Axon guidance molecules and activity-dependent pruning refine these maps in the optic tectum.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Developmental Biology
Molecular Biology

Background:

Topographic maps organize sensory information, with the retina's projection to the optic tectum serving as a key model.
Independent mechanisms and molecular gradients guide retinal axon projections to form precise neural maps.

Purpose of the Study:

To elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying topographic map formation in the visual system.
To understand how different retinal axes are mapped independently within the optic tectum.

Main Methods:

Analysis of axon guidance molecules, including EphAs, ephrin-As, and ephrin-B, and their signaling pathways.
Investigating the roles of repulsive and attractive signaling in axon termination and branching.
Examining the influence of axon-axon competition and patterned neural activity on map refinement.

Main Results:

Temporal-nasal mapping is controlled by opposing EphA/ephrin-A gradients, influencing branching and axon overshoot.
Dorsal-ventral mapping utilizes ephrin-B gradients, acting as attractants or repellents based on EphB levels.
Axon mapping is determined by relative signaling levels, not absolute concentrations, and refined by activity-dependent pruning.

Conclusions:

Distinct molecular mechanisms govern the independent mapping of different retinal axes.
Axon guidance cues and neural activity collectively shape precise topographic neural maps.