Analysis and functional characteristics of dihydropyridine-sensitive and -insensitive calcium channel proteins.

The understanding of the molecular properties and structure-function relations of ion channels has advanced tremendously during the past few years. In this review I will try to summarize briefly the current advances in the field of calcium channel proteins and outline the problems facing researchers at present. I will concentrate exclusively on uertebrate voltage-dependent Ca*+ channels, because much less is known about the invertebrate Ca2+ channels and about receptor-operated Ca2+ channels. Recent reviews may be consulted for more detailed information on molecular properties of ion channels in general (e.g. Refs. 1-4) and of Ca2+ channels in particular [l, S-1.5].