• Question: what are hormones made out of

    Asked by Derynxx to Zena, Isabel on 12 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Isabel Pires

      Isabel Pires answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      I am glad you asked this question, I am actually just about to go and teach a lecture on hormones and how they work.

      Hormones can be of three types according to what they are made of:
      – lipid or fat based, such as steroids, oestrogen and adrenalin
      – single amino acids (the unites that make up proteins), such as some of the hormones produced by the thyroid.
      – a strand of aminoacids, but smaller than a protein, such as insulin.

    • Photo: Zena Hadjivasiliou

      Zena Hadjivasiliou answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      Hormones are made of molecules. Like Isabel said, there are different kinds of hormones! The type of hormone is determined by the kind of molecules that make it and the way in which the molecules are held together.

      I don’t really know very much more about the structure of hormones but I know that they are very important for the function of our bodies. Our cells use them a lot to talk to each other and also sense and respond to their environment.

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