Calcium oscillations

Thul, Ruediger; Bellamy, Tomas C.; Roderick, H. Llewelyn; Bootman, Martin and Coombes, Stephen (2008). Calcium oscillations. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 641 pp. 1–27.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09794-7_1

Abstract

Changes in cellular Ca²⁺ concentration control a wide range of physiological processes, from the subsecond release of synaptic neurotransmitters, to the regulation of gene expression over months or years. Ca²⁺ can also trigger cell death through both apoptosis and necrosis, and so the regulation of cellular Ca²⁺ concentration must be tightly controlled through the concerted action of pumps, channels and buffers that transport Ca²⁺ into and out of the cell cytoplasm. A hallmark of cellular Ca²⁺ signalling is its spatiotemporal complexity: stimulation of cells by a hormone or neurotransmitter leads to oscillations in cytoplasmic Ca²⁺ concentration that can vary markedly in time course, amplitude, frequency, and spatial range.

In this chapter we review some of the biological roles of Ca²⁺, the experimental characterisation of complex dynamic changes in Ca²⁺ concentration, and attempts to explain this complexity using computational models. We consider the 'toolkit' of cellular proteins which influence Ca²⁺ concentrarion, describe mechanistic models of key elements of the toolkit, and fit these into the framework of whole cell models of Ca²⁺ oscillations and waves. Finally, we will touch on recent efforts to use stochastic modelling to elucidate elementary Ca²⁺ signal events, and how these may evolve into global signals.

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