Oscillations of cytosolic Ca2+ in pituitary cells due to action potentials

Electrical activity in non-neuronal cells can be induced by altering the membrane potential and eliciting action potentials. For example, hormones, nutrients and neurotransmitters act on excitable endocrine cells. In an attempt to correlate such electrical activity with regulation of cell activation, we report here direct measurements of cytosolic free Ca2+ changes coincident with action potentials. This was achieved by the powerful and novel combination of two complex techniques, the patch clamp and microfluorimetry using fura 2 methodology. Changes in intracellular calcium concentration were monitored in single cells of the pituitary line GH3B6. We show that a single action potential leads to a marked transient increase in cytosolic free calcium. The size of these short-lived maxima is sufficient to evoke secretory activity. The striking kinetic features of these transients enabled us to identify oscillations in intracellular calcium concentration in unperturbed cells resulting from spontaneous action potentials, and hence provide an explanation for basal secretory activity. Somatostatin, an inhibitor of pituitary function, abolishes the spontaneous spiking of free cytosolic Ca2+ which may explain its inhibitory effect on basal prolactin secretion. Our data therefore demonstrate that electrical activity can stimulate Ca2+-dependent functions in excitable non-neuronal cells.     

T-cell clones from a type-1 diabetes patient respond to insulin secretory granule proteins

T LYMPHOCYTES reactive to pancreatic beta-cells are thought to have a central role in the autoimmune process leading to type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes, but the molecular targets of these T cells have not yet been defined. As identification of such antigens may enable measures to be developed to prevent the disease, we have characterized an antigen that is recognized by insulinoma membrane-reactive T-cell clones established from a newly diagnosed type-1 diabetes patient. Subcellular fractionation studies using rat insulinoma indicate that the antigenic determinant recognized by one of these clones is an integral membrane component of the insulin secretory granule. After a 5,000-fold purification, we have defined the antigen as a monomer of relative molecular mass 38,000. As granular membrane proteins are transiently exposed on the cell surface during exocytosis, their accessibility to components of the immune system may be a function of the secretory activity of beta-cells.     

STIM1 is a Ca2+ sensor that activates CRAC channels and migrates from the Ca2+ store to the plasma membrane

As the sole Ca2+ entry mechanism in a variety of non-excitable cells, store-operated calcium (SOC) influx is important in Ca2+ signalling and many other cellular processes. A calcium-release-activated calcium (CRAC) channel in T lymphocytes is the best-characterized SOC influx channel and is essential to the immune response, sustained activity of CRAC channels being required for gene expression and proliferation. The molecular identity and the gating mechanism of SOC and CRAC channels have remained elusive. Previously we identified Stim and the mammalian homologue STIM1 as essential components of CRAC channel activation in Drosophila S2 cells and human T lymphocytes. Here we show that the expression of EF-hand mutants of Stim or STIM1 activates CRAC channels constitutively without changing Ca2+ store content. By immunofluorescence, EM localization and surface biotinylation we show that STIM1 migrates from endoplasmic-reticulum-like sites to the plasma membrane upon depletion of the Ca2+ store. We propose that STIM1 functions as the missing link between Ca2+ store depletion and SOC influx, serving as a Ca2+ sensor that translocates upon store depletion to the plasma membrane to activate CRAC channels.     

Ca2+-activated ATPase and ATP-dependent calmodulin-stimulated Ca2+ transport in islet cell plasma membrane

Calcium is known to play an essential part in the regulation of insulin secretion in the pancreatic beta cell. Calcium influx/efflux studies indicate that glucose promotes an accumulation of calcium by the beta cell. However, interpretation of such data is particularly difficult due to the complex compartmentalization of calcium within the cell. Although indirect evidence using chlorotetracycline suggests that control of calcium homeostasis at the plasma membrane may be central to insulin secretion, the mechanism by which secretagogues influence the handling of calcium remains unknown. Despite its continuous diffusive entry, intracellular calcium is maintained in the submicromolar range by energy-dependent mechanisms. One such process which has been well characterized in erythrocytes is a plasma membrane calcium extrusion pump whose enzymatic basis is a high affinity (Ca+2 + Mg+2)ATPase. A similar mechanism regulated by insulin has recently been identified in adipocyte plasma membranes. We report here the presence of a high affinity (Ca+2 + Mg+2)ATPase and ATP-dependent calmodulin-stimulated calcium transport system in rat pancreatic islet cell plasma membranes.     

Active transport of Ca2+ by an artificial photosynthetic membrane

Transport of calcium ions across membranes and against a thermodynamic gradient is essential to many biological processes, including muscle contraction, the citric acid cycle, glycogen metabolism, release of neurotransmitters, vision, biological signal transduction and immune response. Synthetic systems that transport metal ions across lipid or liquid membranes are well known, and in some cases light has been used to facilitate transport. Typically, a carrier molecule located in a symmetric membrane binds the ion from aqueous solution on one side and releases it on the other. The thermodynamic driving force is provided by an ion concentration difference between the two aqueous solutions, coupling to such a gradient in an auxiliary species, or photomodulation of the carrier by an asymmetric photon flux. Here we report a different approach, in which active transport is driven not by concentration gradients, but by light-induced electron transfer in a photoactive molecule that is asymmetrically disposed across a lipid bilayer. The system comprises a synthetic, light-driven transmembrane Ca2+ pump based on a redox-sensitive, lipophilic Ca2+-binding shuttle molecule whose function is powered by an intramembrane artificial photosynthetic reaction centre. The resulting structure transports calcium ions across the bilayer of a liposome to develop both a calcium ion concentration gradient and a membrane potential, expanding Mitchell's concept of a redox loop mechanism for protons to include divalent cations. Although the quantum yield is relatively low (approximately 1 per cent), the Ca2+ electrochemical potential developed is significant.     

钙离子对学习记忆的影响

Ca^2 作为神经信号传递的重要信使，参与学习记忆的神经机制。突触前和突触后细胞内钙离子在长时程突触的可塑性中发挥重要的信息传递作用。研究表明衰老性记忆障碍与中枢神经系统的Ca^2 稳态调节失衡有关。神经细胞内游离钙水平[Ca^2 ]i受多种机制的调节，主要包括Ca^2 的跨膜转运、细胞内钙池摄取与释放Ca^2 等过程；最近的研究表明神经胶质细胞也参与其调节。     

仙人掌多糖对荷瘤小鼠肿瘤细胞钙泵的影响

研究了食用仙人掌多糖、药用仙人掌多糖对S180小鼠肿瘤细胞膜Ca2 -ATPase的活性影响.结果表明,二者均能明显抑制荷瘤小鼠肿瘤细胞膜上Ca2 -ATPase的活性.仙人掌多糖的这一作用改变了荷瘤小鼠细胞膜的物质、能量平衡,推测其作用可能表现为促进肿瘤细胞的凋亡.     

Effects of nitrogen ion implantation on Ca2+ concentration and membrane potential of pollen cell

The effects of low energy nitrogen ion implantation on Ca²⁺ concentration and membrane potential of lily (lilium davidii Duch) pollen cell have been studied. The results showed that the Ca²⁺ concentration was increased when pollen grain was implanted by nitrogen ion with energy 100 keV and dose 10¹³ ions/cm². However, the increase of Ca²⁺ concentration was partly inhibited by the addition of Ca²⁺ channel inhibitor depending on dose. And nitrogen ion implantation caused depolarization of pollen cell membrane potential. In other words, membrane potential was increased, but the effect decreased by adding Ca²⁺ channel inhibitor. However, it was still significantly higher than the membrane potential of control cells. It was indicated that the depolarization of cell membrane potential opened the calcium channel on the membrane that caused the increasing of intracellular calcium concentration. This might be an earlier step of the effect of low energy nitrogen ion implantation on pollen germination.     

Protein kinase C activation of physiological processes in human neutrophils at vanishingly small cytosolic Ca2+ levels

It has long been assumed that a rise in cytosolic free Ca2+, [Ca2+]i, is a necessary and sufficient event for the stimulation of a variety of cellular processes. The development of a technique which allows monitoring of [Ca2+]i in small intact cells has led to a critical revision of this simple postulate. We have recently shown that in neutrophils, Ca2+-ionophore-induced elevations of [Ca2+]i, quantitatively similar to those caused by chemotatic peptides, are ineffective in stimulating cell responses, which suggests that an additional signal is required for receptor-mediated activation. Here we show that subthreshold concentrations of phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) and of a Ca2+ ionophore can quantitatively mimic the effect of a physiological agonist. However, PMA at higher concentrations can trigger NADPH-oxidase activity, exocytosis and protein phosphorylation, even when [Ca2+]i is lowered 10-20 times below the normal resting level. These results strongly suggest that activation of protein kinase C is sufficient, by itself, to induce NADPH-oxidase activation and exocytosis of secondary granules in neutrophils.     

Structure of the gating domain of a Ca2+-activated K+ channel complexed with Ca2+/calmodulin

Small-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels (SK channels) are independent of voltage and gated solely by intracellular Ca2+. These membrane channels are heteromeric complexes that comprise pore-forming alpha-subunits and the Ca2+-binding protein calmodulin (CaM). CaM binds to the SK channel through the CaM-binding domain (CaMBD), which is located in an intracellular region of the alpha-subunit immediately carboxy-terminal to the pore. Channel opening is triggered when Ca2+ binds the EF hands in the N-lobe of CaM. Here we report the 1.60 A crystal structure of the SK channel CaMBD/Ca2+/CaM complex. The CaMBD forms an elongated dimer with a CaM molecule bound at each end; each CaM wraps around three alpha-helices, two from one CaMBD subunit and one from the other. As only the CaM N-lobe has bound Ca2+, the structure provides a view of both calcium-dependent and -independent CaM/protein interactions. Together with biochemical data, the structure suggests a possible gating mechanism for the SK channel.     

地西泮对大鼠脑突触体内Ca2+水平和Ca2+, Mg2+-ATP酶活性的作用

用Quin 2法测得大鼠脑突触体内静息游离Ca2+浓度([Ca2+]i)为85±13μmol/g protein.地西泮0.1,1和10 mmol/L对静息突触体[Ca2+]i无明显影响,但能以剂量依赖方式增高65 mmol/LKCl所致突触体[Ca2+]i升高,从105±23μmol/g protein分别达到185±28,267±49和291±48μmol/gprotein.地西泮1和10 mmol/L分别使突触体Ca2+,Mg2+-ATP酶活性降低28.7%和42.5%;使Mg2+-ATP酶活性分别降低12.6%和32.8%,提示地西泮可能是通过抑制钙调素,进而抑制Ca2+,Mg2+-ATP酶活性,使突触体[Ca2+]1升高,促进神经末梢释放递质.     

一种基于联二萘酚衍生物的荧光传感器对铜离子的荧光识别

设计并合成了一种基于联二萘酚衍生物的荧光传感器1,1在乙腈溶液中对Cu2+具有很好的选择性和灵敏度.当所加金属离子的浓度为1的10倍的时候,只有Cu2+能显著猝灭1的荧光,而其它离子(Hg2+,Pb2+,Sr2+,Ba2+,Cd2+,Ni2+,Co2+,Fe2+,Mn2+,Zn2+,Ce3+,Mg2+,K2+,Fe3+...     

Open structure of the Ca2+ gating ring in the high-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channel

High-conductance voltage- and Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channels function in many physiological processes that link cell membrane voltage and intracellular Ca(2+) concentration, including neuronal electrical activity, skeletal and smooth muscle contraction, and hair cell tuning. Like other voltage-dependent K(+) channels, Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channels open when the cell membrane depolarizes, but in contrast to other voltage-dependent K(+) channels, they also open when intracellular Ca(2+) concentrations rise. Channel opening by Ca(2+) is made possible by a structure called the gating ring, which is located in the cytoplasm. Recent structural studies have defined the Ca(2+)-free, closed, conformation of the gating ring, but the Ca(2+)-bound, open, conformation is not yet known. Here we present the Ca(2+)-bound conformation of the gating ring. This structure shows how one layer of the gating ring, in response to the binding of Ca(2+), opens like the petals of a flower. The degree to which it opens explains how Ca(2+) binding can open the transmembrane pore. These findings present a molecular basis for Ca(2+) activation of K(+) channels and suggest new possibilities for targeting the gating ring to treat conditions such as asthma and hypertension.     

Blebbing, free Ca2+ and mitochondrial membrane potential preceding cell death in hepatocytes

Cell surface 'blebbing' is an early consequence of hypoxic and toxic injury to cells. A rise in cytosolic free Ca2+ has been suggested as the stimulus for bleb formation and the final common pathway to irreversible cell injury. Here, using digitized low-light video microscopy, we examine blebbing, cytosolic free Ca2+, mitochondrial membrane potential and loss of cell viability in individual cultured hepatocytes. Unexpectedly, we found that after 'chemical hypoxia' with cyanide and iodoacetate, cytosolic free Ca2+ does not change during bleb formation or before loss of cellular viability. Cell death was precipitated by a sudden breakdown of the plasma membrane permeability barrier, possibly caused by rupture of a cell surface bleb.     

大负荷跑台运动对大鼠心肌细胞膜Na+-K+-ATPase、Ca2+-ATPase与肌浆网Ca2+-ATPase活性的影响

目的:探讨大负荷跑台运动对大鼠心肌细胞膜钠钾泵(Na+-K+-ATPase)、钙泵(Ca2+-ATPase)与肌浆网钙泵(Ca2+-ATPase)活性的影响。方法:选择30只成年雄性SD大鼠分为空白对照组和运动后24 h组以及运动后即刻组。结果:运动后即刻组的Na+-K+-ATPase、Ca2+-ATPase活性均显著低于其他两组,(P<0.05);运动后24 h组的Ca2+-ATPase显著低于其他两组,(P<0.05);电镜观察可见运动后24 h组的肌细胞及肌浆网出现肿胀,肌原纤维结构出现明显的损伤;运动后即刻组的线粒体结构出现明显的损伤。结论:大负荷跑台运动会导致大鼠心肌细胞膜钠钾泵(Na+-K+-ATPase)、钙泵(Ca2+-ATPase)与肌浆网钙泵(Ca2+-ATPase)活性的降低。