Caveolae, specialized vesicular invaginations of the plasma membrane ,have attracted increasing attentions to those who are studing siginal transduction .Many proteins involved in signal transduction have been found enriched in these microdomains.Caveolins,as marker proteins of caveolae,form a scaffold onto which many classes of signaling molecules can assemble at steady state or after ligand-induced activiton .In addition to concentrating these signal transducers within a distinct region of the plasma membrane ,caveolin binding may functionally regulate the activation state of caveolae-associated signaling molecules.Thus,an emerging notion is that caveolae are signaling processing centers which orchestrate signaling events at the cell surface that influence cell function .
