Skip to main content

Endocrine Signal Attenuation

Meaning

Endocrine signal attenuation describes the undesirable physiological process where the responsiveness of target cells or tissues to circulating hormonal messages is significantly diminished, even when hormone levels are nominally adequate. This reduction in signal strength, often due to receptor downregulation or post-receptor pathway desensitization, results in a state of functional hormone deficiency at the cellular level. Clinically, this attenuation leads to symptoms of hormone imbalance, despite normal blood test ranges for the hormone itself, compromising metabolic and systemic homeostasis. It represents a critical failure in the body’s communication network.