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autocrine hormone
From the Greek autos (self) & akos (remedy)
A local hormone, i.e. a molecule produced by a cell that effects cells in its local environment, rather than exerting effects on distant cells in different organs (endocrine).
Examples include:
1) products of the cyclooxygenase cascade
a) prostaglandins
b) thromboxane
2) products of the lipoxygenase cascade
3) platelet-activating factor
4) histamine
5) bradykinin
6) serotonin
In general autocoids participate in physiological or pathophysiological response to injury.
Related & overlapping terms include
1) cytokine
2) lymphokine
3) paracrine hormone
Specific
platelet-activating factor (PAF)
General
hormone
References
- Stedman's Medical Dictionary 27th ed, Williams &
Wilkins, Baltimore, 1999
- The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 9th ed.
Gilman et al, eds. Permagon Press/McGraw Hill, 1996 pg 579