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Horm Metab Res 1998; 30(2): 66-69
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-978836
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© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Metabolic and Membrane-Altering Toxins, Molecular Differentiation Factors, and Pheromones in the Evolution and Operation of Endocrine-Signalling Systems

J. W. Brown
  • V. A. Medical Center and Divisions of Endocrinology and Marine Biology, University of Miami Schools of Medicine and Marine & Atmospheric Science, Miami, Florida U.S.A.
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Publication History

1996

1997

Publication Date:
20 April 2007 (online)

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Abstract

The endocrine systems of vertebrates and higher invertebrates may have evolved functionally from as far back on the evolutionary scale as bacteria and early multicellular organisms and their biological communities, which have been shown to produce a variety of cyclic nucleotides, peptides, fatty acids, prostaglandins and sterols with endocrine-altering effects in primative as well as more highly evolved species.

Key words

Endocrinology - Evolution - Toxins - Pheromones - Differentiating factors - Hormones - Microorganisms - Invertebrates - Vertebrates