A series of molecular signals initiated by the binding of an extracellular ligand to the receptor Notch on the surface of a target cell, and ending with regulation of a downstream cellular process, e.g. transcription.

A process in which force is generated within smooth muscle tissue, resulting in a change in muscle geometry. This process occurs in the artery. Force generation involves a chemo-mechanical energy conversion step that is carried out by the actin/myosin complex activity, which generates force through ATP hydrolysis. The artery is a vessel carrying blood away from the heart.

Any process in which the force of blood traveling through the circulatory system is increased.

The directed movement of proteins into, out of or within a cell, or between cells, by means of some agent such as a transporter or pore.

All of the contents of a cell excluding the plasma membrane and nucleus, but including other subcellular structures.

The membrane surrounding a cell that separates the cell from its external environment. It consists of a phospholipid bilayer and associated proteins.

The part of the cytoplasm that does not contain organelles but which does contain other particulate matter, such as protein complexes.

The membrane surrounding a cell that separates the cell from its external environment. It consists of a phospholipid bilayer and associated proteins.

An electron dense network of proteins within and adjacent to the postsynaptic membrane in asymetric synapses. Its major components include neurotransmitter receptors and the proteins that spatially and functionally organize them such as anchoring and scaffolding molecules, signaling enzymes and cytoskeletal components.

A lipid bilayer along with all the proteins and protein complexes embedded in it an attached to it.

A neuron projection that has a short, tapering, often branched, morphology, receives and integrates signals from other neurons or from sensory stimuli, and conducts a nerve impulse towards the axon or the cell body. In most neurons, the impulse is conveyed from dendrites to axon via the cell body, but in some types of unipolar neuron, the impulse does not travel via the cell body.

Cylindric portion of the dendrite, directly stemming from the perikaryon, and carrying the dendritic spines.

A specialized area of membrane facing the presynaptic membrane on the tip of the nerve ending and separated from it by a minute cleft (the synaptic cleft). Neurotransmitters cross the synaptic cleft and transmit the signal to the postsynaptic membrane.