The kinase can also phosphorylate regulatory proteins which then act on the channel. Kinases have regulatory and catalytic subunits. Exposure or cleavage of the catalytic subunits frees them to phosphorylate proteins. Back to sensitization The process of facilitation involves activation of seretonergic inputs from facilitating interneurons which are stimulated by sensory input. Long-term facilitation acts through the same cAMP signalling system.
Second messengers can induce new protein synthesis by regulating gene expression.
Segue to gene regulation Genes are typically made up of two regions. The regulatory region and the coding region. Regulatory regions are additionally subdivided into enhancer and promoter regions. Activation of the coding region, which contains the information for transcription, is regulated by the binding of regulatory proteins to the enhancer region. The portions of the enhancer region which bind specific regulatory proteins are known as response elements.