Animation - Mechanism of Steroid Hormone Action

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How do hormones work? Hormones influence the growth and develop of organisms. For example hormones determine whether individuals become male or female. Many hormones are steroids. Steroids are a class of lipids. All steroids share a carbon skeleton composed of four fused rings. Hormones are compounds used for long distance signaling in both plants and animals. In animals, specialized cells produce hormones and release them into the circulatory system. Hormones travel to target cells in other parts of the body and cause a variety of changes in the target areas. Changes caused by hormones include changes in gene expression in target cells as well as Steroid hormones are soluble in lipids and can easily pass through cellular and nuclear membranes. In contrast, many other hormones are water soluble. Steroid hormones typically act by affecting gene expression while water-soluble hormones usually act by causing changes in biological processes in the cytoplasm of cells.