Pulsatile intercellular communication hormone secretion

The possible occurrence in the Dictyostelium system of complex oscillatory phenomena such as birhythmicity, bursting and chaos is discussed in chapter 6. The appearance of periodic behaviour in the course of development provides a model for the ontogenesis of biological rhythms. This aspect is treated in chapter 7. Finally, an additional interest of the intercellular communication system of Dictyostelium amoebae is that it allows us to address the question of the physiological function of the periodic phenomenon. This question is dealt with in chapter 8, where the discussion is extended to the role of pulsatile hormone secretion in higher organisms. 

Function of the rhythm of intercellular communication in Dictyostelium hnk with pulsatile hormone secretion... 

A close link therefore exists between the function of the cAMP rhythm in D. discoideum and that of the hormonal rhythm of GnRH secretion. In both cases, pulsatile signalling represents an optimal mode of intercellular communication, allowing the avoidance of desensitization in target cells. 

Pulsatile hormone secretion, see Hormone Pulsatile signal, generation, 342-8 Pulsatile signalling in Dictyostelium, 21,164,305,516 in intercellular communication, 22 see also cAMP signalling in Dictyostelium Hormone Pulsatile stimulation by cAMP, 306,330,331,516 by GH, 339,520 by GnRH, 310,311,335,336 by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), 25,452... 

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