Cells, tissues and organs of the body communicate among themselves via messenger substances.

A well-known messenger is the “happiness hormone” serotonin. By taking in sugary foods, we enable serotonin to be released. The serotonin attaches to certain nerve cells in the brain and thus activates the program “good mood”.

Another example: The messenger substance leptin is produced by fat cells in the body and reports to the brain how full or empty the body’s fat reserves are.

The information transmission works in very similar ways for all messenger substances:

The messenger substances dock onto proteins (so-called receptors) which are located either on the surface of or inside the receptor cell. When the messenger attaches to one of these docking stations, the receptor becomes deformed and thus activates a molecular switch inside the cell with which certain operating programs are turned on.

This is how the message of the messenger substance is transmitted to a specific signal system of the cell.