Hormonal imprinting (HI) is a phenomenon which takes place at the first encounter between a

hormone A hormone (from the Ancient Greek, Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of cell signaling, signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs or tissues by complex biological processes to regulate physio ...

and its developing

receptor Receptor may refer to: * Sensory receptor, in physiology, any neurite structure that, on receiving environmental stimuli, produces an informative nerve impulse *Receptor (biochemistry), in biochemistry, a protein molecule that receives and respond ...

in the critical periods of life (in unicellulars during the whole life) and determines the later

signal transduction Signal transduction is the process by which a chemical or physical signal is transmitted through a cell as a biochemical cascade, series of molecular events. Proteins responsible for detecting stimuli are generally termed receptor (biology), rece ...

capacity of the cell. The most important period in

mammals A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle e ...

is the perinatal one, however this system can be imprinted at weaning, at

puberty Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a female, the testicles i ...

and in case of continuously dividing cells during the whole life. Faulty imprinting is caused by

drugs A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...

, environmental pollutants and other hormone-like molecules present in excess at the critical periods with lifelong receptorial, morphological, biochemical and behavioral consequences. HI is transmitted to the hundreds of progeny generations in unicellulars and (as proved) to a few generations also in mammals.

References

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External links

Phylogeny of hormone receptors
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008064154/http://www.chemotaxis.usn.hu/CHTXhpg/HPGCsGsu.htm , date=2007-10-08 Cell biology Physiology Perception Signal transduction