Voltage-Gated Calcium Channels

Voltage-Gated Calcium Channels

Voltage-gated calcium channels.

Voltage-gated calcium (Ca(2+)) channels are key transducers of membrane potential changes into intracellular Ca(2+) transients that initiate many physiological events. There are ten members of the voltage-gated Ca(2+) channel family in mammals, and they serve distinct roles in cellular signal transduction. The Ca(V)1 subfamily initiates contraction, secretion, regulation of gene expression, int...

β Subunits of Voltage-Gated Calcium Channels

Calcium channel β subunits have marked effects on the trafficking and on several of the biophysical properties of all high voltage activated calcium channels. In this article I shall review information on the different genes, on the structure of the β subunits, and on their differential expression and post-translational modification. Their role in trafficking and assembly of the calcium channel...

Molecular Properties of Voltage-Gated Calcium Channels

Native Voltage-Gated Ca Channels Early electrophysiological recordings from neurons, muscle and endocrine cells revealed voltage-activated calcium (Ca) currents with distinct characteristics, suggesting the existence of two major classes of Ca2+ channels based upon the membrane potentials at which they first open (see chapter by Tsien); low-voltage activated (LVA) and high-voltage activated (HV...

Voltage-gated calcium channels of Paramecium cilia.

Paramecium cells swim by beating their cilia, and make turns by transiently reversing their power stroke. Reversal is caused by Ca2+ entering the cilium through voltage-gated Ca2+ (CaV) channels that are found exclusively in the cilia. As ciliary Ca2+ levels return to normal, the cell pivots and swims forward in a new direction. Thus, the activation of the CaV channels causes cells to make a tu...