Question:
Illustrate the differences between the mechanism of action of a protein and a steroid hormone.
Solution:
Protein hormone:
Protein hormones are insulin, glucagon, prolactin etc. They have to bind their receptors which are present on the plasma membrane. They form their hormone receptor
complex on the membrane. They are water-soluble hormone so they can’t diffuse to lipid layer plasma membrane and bind to a receptor on membrane.
Steroid hormone:
Steroid hormone is an androgen, estrogen etc. which don’t have their receptor on plasma membrane they directly diffuse to their target site. They don’t produce a
secondary messenger.