Calcium metabolism

About: Calcium metabolism is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 15437 publications have been published within this topic receiving 598849 citations.

Release of Ca2+ from a nonmitochondrial intracellular store in pancreatic acinar cells by inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate.

Abstract: Activation of receptors for a wide variety of hormones and neurotransmitters leads to an increase in the intracellular level of calcium. Much of this calcium is released from intracellular stores but the link between surface receptors and this internal calcium reservoir is unknown. Hydrolysis of the phosphoinositides, which is another characteristic feature of these receptors, has been implicated in calcium mobilization. The primary lipid substrates for the receptor mechanism seem to be two polyphosphoinositides, phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PtdIns4P) and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns4,5P2), which are rapidly hydrolysed following receptor activation in various cells and tissues. The action of phospholipase C on these polyphosphoinositides results in the rapid formation of the water-soluble products inositol 1,4-bisphosphate (Ins1,4P2) and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (Ins1,4,5P3). In the insect salivary gland, where changes in Ins1,4P2 and Ins1,4,5P2 have been studied at early time periods, increases in these inositol phosphates are sufficiently rapid to suggest that they might mobilize internal calcium. We report here that micromolar concentrations of Ins1,4,5P3 release Ca2+ from a nonmitochondrial intracellular Ca2+ store in pancreatic acinar cells. Our results strongly suggest that this is the same Ca2+ store that is released by acetylcholine.

Calcium sparks: elementary events underlying excitation-contraction coupling in heart muscle

Abstract: Spontaneous local increases in the concentration of intracellular calcium, called "calcium sparks," were detected in quiescent rat heart cells with a laser scanning confocal microscope and the fluorescent calcium indicator fluo-3 Estimates of calcium flux associated with the sparks suggest that calcium sparks result from spontaneous openings of single sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) calcium-release channels, a finding supported by ryanodine-dependent changes of spark kinetics At resting intracellular calcium concentrations, these SR calcium-release channels had a low rate of opening (approximately 00001 per second) An increase in the calcium content of the SR, however, was associated with a fourfold increase in opening rate and resulted in some sparks triggering propagating waves of increased intracellular calcium concentration The calcium spark is the consequence of elementary events underlying excitation-contraction coupling and provides an explanation for both spontaneous and triggered changes in the intracellular calcium concentration in the mammalian heart

Glutamate induces calcium waves in cultured astrocytes: long-range glial signaling

Abstract: The finding that astrocytes possess glutamate-sensitive ion channels hinted at a previously unrecognized signaling role for these cells. Now it is reported that cultured hippocampal astrocytes can respond to glutamate with a prompt and oscillatory elevation of cytoplasmic free calcium, visible through use of the fluorescent calcium indicator fluo-3. Two types of glutamate receptor--one preferring quisqualate and releasing calcium from intracellular stores and the other preferring kainate and promoting surface-membrane calcium influx--appear to be involved. Moreover, glutamate-induced increases in cytoplasmic free calcium frequently propagate as waves within the cytoplasm of individual astrocytes and between adjacent astrocytes in confluent cultures. These propagating waves of calcium suggest that networks of astrocytes may constitute a long-range signaling system within the brain.

1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 is a negative endocrine regulator of the renin-angiotensin system

Abstract: Inappropriate activation of the renin-angiotensin system, which plays a central role in the regulation of blood pressure, electrolyte, and volume homeostasis, may represent a major risk factor for hypertension, heart attack, and stroke. Mounting evidence from clinical studies has demonstrated an inverse relationship between circulating vitamin D levels and the blood pressure and/or plasma renin activity, but the mechanism is not understood. We show here that renin expression and plasma angiotensin II production were increased severalfold in vitamin D receptor-null (VDR-null) mice, leading to hypertension, cardiac hypertrophy, and increased water intake. However, the salt- and volume-sensing mechanisms that control renin synthesis are still intact in the mutant mice. In wild-type mice, inhibition of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) [1,25(OH)(2)D(3)] synthesis also led to an increase in renin expression, whereas 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) injection led to renin suppression. We found that vitamin D regulation of renin expression was independent of calcium metabolism and that 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) markedly suppressed renin transcription by a VDR-mediated mechanism in cell cultures. Hence, 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) is a novel negative endocrine regulator of the renin-angiotensin system. Its apparent critical role in electrolytes, volume, and blood pressure homeostasis suggests that vitamin D analogues could help prevent or ameliorate hypertension.