Visceral hypersensitivity in inflammatory bowel diseases and irritable bowel syndrome: The role of proteases

Figure 3 Schematic representation of the activation of a protease-activated receptor. A protease cleaves the N-terminal domain (1), releasing a new N-terminus (2). The new N-terminus binds to the receptor as a tethered ligand, providing an intracellular signal (3). Image constructed using the Servier Image Bank. N-terminus: Amino-terminus; PAR: Protease-activated receptor.