The Inositol triphosphate reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Inositol triphosphate

Inositol triphosphate (abbreviated InsP₃ or IP₃, also called triphosphoinositol), together with diacylglycerol, is a second messenger molecule used in signal transduction in biological cellss. It is made by hydrolysis of phosphatidyl inositol, a phospholipid that is located in the plasma membrane, by phospholipase C.

Its main functions are to mobilize Ca²⁺ from storage organelles and to regulate cell proliferation and other cellular reactions. For example, in Drosophila, InsP₃ is used for intracellular transduction of light recognition in eye cells.

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