Signal transduction for clinicians: why should we care?
Neurons must respond to a bewildering array of external and internal stimuli and must distinguish among them to generate an appropriate response or change in metabolic or electrical activity. Furthermore, the response of a cell to a given stimulus must depend on what else is happening inside and outside the cell at the time of arrival of that stimulus. The process of signal transduction is what gives the cell and organism the flexibility and "knowledge base" to carry out these functions. Conversely, aberrations of signal transduction underlie an increasing array of developmental, genetic, and acquired diseases and conditions of the nervous system. Pharmacological modulation of signal transduction pathways and their effectors holds great promise for the remediation of these neurologic disorders.
Schor
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Pediatric Center for Neuroscience and Division of Child Neurology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*