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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...

Cell-surface Signaling

Cell-surface Signaling

Hormones—or any molecule that binds to a receptor, known as a ligand—that are lipid-insoluble (water-soluble) are not able to diffuse across the cell membrane. In order to be able to affect a cell without entering it, these hormones bind to receptors on the cell membrane. When a first messenger, a hormone, binds to a receptor, a signal cascade is set off, causing second messengers, proteins inside the cell, to become activated, resulting in downstream effects.

What is Cell Signaling?

What is 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 to respond to the environment.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 26, 2025

Single-cell Microinjection for Cell Communication Analysis

Single-cell Microinjection for Cell Communication Analysis

Published on: February 26, 2017

Single-cell A/B testing for cell-cell communication.

Caitlin M Aamodt¹, Nathan E Lewis²

¹Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.

|June 22, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed a new CRISPR screening method called SPEAC-seq to study cell communication. This technique identified a microglia-astrocyte feedback loop that helps suppress neuroinflammation.

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Last Updated: Jul 26, 2025

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Establishing Single-Cell Based Co-Cultures in a Deterministic Manner with a Microfluidic Chip

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Published on: September 27, 2019

Area of Science:

Immunology
Neuroscience
Genomics

Background:

Cell-cell communication is crucial for immune responses and tissue homeostasis.
Understanding the molecular mediators of cell interactions is vital for disease research.
Existing methods may not fully capture the complexity of communication in co-cultured systems.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a novel CRISPR-based screening method to identify signaling molecules involved in cell-cell communication.
To apply this method to uncover the mechanisms underlying microglia-astrocyte interactions.
To investigate the role of these interactions in the context of neuroinflammatory diseases.

Main Methods:

Systematic Perturbation of Encapsulated Associated Cells followed by Sequencing (SPEAC-seq) was developed.
This method utilizes CRISPR screening in co-cultured cells.
Ligands mediating cell-cell communication were identified through high-throughput sequencing.

Main Results:

SPEAC-seq successfully identified key signaling molecules in co-cultured systems.
The study elucidated a novel microglia-astrocyte feedback loop.
This feedback loop was found to play a suppressive role in neuroinflammatory disease.

Conclusions:

SPEAC-seq is a powerful tool for dissecting cell-cell communication networks.
The identified microglia-astrocyte feedback loop offers a potential therapeutic target for neuroinflammation.
This work advances our understanding of glial cell interactions in neurological health and disease.