Controlling the urge for a Ca2+ surge: all-or-none Ca2+ release in neurons

✍ Scribed by Yuriy M. Usachev; Stanley A. Thayer

• Book ID: 101298373
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 108 KB
• Volume: 21
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0265-9247
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1521-1878(199909)21:9<743::aid-bies5>3.0.co;2-m

✦ Synopsis

Changes in the intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca 2ϩ ] i ) convey signals that are essential to the life and death of neurons. Ca 2ϩ -induced Ca 2ϩ -release (CICR), a process in which a modest elevation in [Ca 2ϩ ] i is amplified by a secondary release of Ca 2ϩ from stores within the cell, plays a prominent role in shaping neuronal [Ca 2ϩ ] i signals. When CICR becomes regenerative, an explosive increase in [Ca 2ϩ ] i generates a Ca 2ϩ wave that spreads throughout the cell. A discrete threshold controls activation of this all-or-none behavior and cellular context adjusts the threshold. Thus, the store acts as a switch that determines whether a given pattern of electrical activity will produce a local or global Ca 2ϩ signal. This gatekeeper function seems to control some forms of Ca 2ϩ -triggered plasticity in neurons.