Reducing the extracellular Mg2+ concentration ([Mg2+]o) to 0.1 mM evoked an aberrant pattern of glutamatergic activity in the synaptic network formed by rat hippocampal neurons grown in primary culture. This treatment resulted in a significant increase in neuronal death when maintained for 20-24 h; 0.1 mM [Mg2+]o elicited a stable and repetitive series of intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+...

Sensory stimuli trigger complex patterns of neuronal action potentials in the brain. Measurement of these patterns is important for understanding the way the brain processes information. There are currently no efficient techniques to visualize patterns of highfrequency action potentials. Because individual action potentials result in transient increases in intracellular Ca2+, fluorescent calciu...

To understand how electrical signal processing in cortical pyramidal neurons is executed by ion channels, it is essential to know their subcellular distribution. M-channels (encoded by Kv7.2-Kv7.5/KCNQ2-KCNQ5 genes) have multiple important functions in neurons, including control of excitability, spike afterpotentials, adaptation, and theta resonance. Nevertheless, the subcellular distribution o...

The ubiquitous Ca2(+)-phosphoinositide pathway transduces extracellular signals to cellular effectors. Using a mathematical model, we simulated intracellular Ca2+ fluctuations in hepatocytes upon humoral stimulation. We estimated the information encoded about random humoral stimuli in these Ca2+ spike trains using an information-theoretic approach based on stimulus estimation methods. We demons...

Cholesterol regulates numerous cellular processes. Depleting its synthesis in skeletal myofibers induces vacuolization and contraction impairment. However, little is known about how cholesterol reduction affects cardiomyocyte behavior. Here, we deplete cholesterol by incubating neonatal cardiomyocytes with methyl-beta-cyclodextrin. Traction force microscopy shows that lowering cholesterol incre...

We have investigated the signaling pathways underlying muscarinic receptor-induced calcium oscillations in human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells. Activation of muscarinic receptors with a maximal concentration of carbachol (100 microm) induced a biphasic rise in cytoplasmic calcium ([Ca2+]i) comprised of release of Ca2+ from intracellular stores and influx of Ca2+ from the extracellular space. ...

The experiments compare intracellular changes in porcine eggs induced by electrical activation with those induced by sperm penetration. Adequate electrostimulation induces changes in both cortical granule exocytosis and protein synthesis similar to those induced by sperm during fertilization. However, ionic changes induced by electrostimulation differ markedly from those initiated at fertilizat...

Developmental changes in the Ca2+ dynamics of human zygotes and preimplantation embryos were related to changes in the distribution of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and protein kinase C (PKC). The fertilization-induced Ca2+ oscillations were typically observed over > 5 h, were ryanodine-sensitive and showed a periphery-to-centre propagation of Ca2+ waves. At the same time, ER and PKC were accumula...

Single cardiac ryanodine receptor (RyR) channel adaptation was previously defined with Ca2+ stimuli produced by flash photolysis of DM-nitrophen (caged-Ca+2). Photolysis of DM-nitrophen induced a very fast Ca+2 overshoot (Ca+2 spike) at the leading edge of the Ca+2 stimuli. It has been suggested that adaptation (tau approximately 1.3 s) may reflect Ca+2 slowly coming off the RyR Ca+2 activation...

The possible involvement of Ca2+ as a second messenger in snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus L.) shoot gravitropism, as well as the role of ethylene in this bending response, were analyzed in terms of stem curvature and gravity-induced asymmetric ethylene production rates, ethylene-related metabolites, and invertase activity across the stem. Application of CaZ+ chelators (ethylenediaminetetraacetic ...