Every minute of the day your body completes complex tasks. Whether it’s maintaining body temperature or keeping your hand away from a hot stove, your trillions of cells do all the talking needed to help you function. This effective, efficient form of communication is a process called cell signaling.

The network needed to send and receive these messages is complex. It consists of an army of messenger molecules to spread the signal across and between cells (signaling molecules). They’re seeking targets that receive the initial signal (receptors). And finally, the interaction of messengers and receptors creates a final cellular consequence (the cell responding to the initial signal).

Cell signaling molecules come in multiple forms. Sometimes the signaling happens within the cell itself. In other cases, cells send messages to neighbors or other cells a great distance away. These signals can be: