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PERSPECTIVE AND OVERVIEW The transduction of many hormonal and neurotransmitter stimuli is mediated by rises in the cytosolic level of calcium ion resulting from activation of the phosphoinositide cascade (6). Several years ago, Peter Cobbold and coworkers (76) carried out an incisive experiment that revealed the temporal pattern of the calcium rise in a single stimulated cell. They monitored the cytosolic calcium level (Caj) of individual hepa tocytes by measuring the luminescence of microinjected aequorin, a cal cium indicator. The addition of physiologic concentrations of vasopressin, a hormone known to mobilize intracellular calcium, gave a surprising result. A sustained rise in Caj was expected, but, instead, repetitive increases 0883-9 1 82/91/061 0-0 1 53$02.00 153 MEYER & STRYER in Caj (calcium spikes) occurred from 200 nM to 1 j.lM, each lasting about 7 s (Figure 1). Most striking, the frequency of spiking increased when the concentration of hormone was raised, whereas the amplitude and duration of individual spikes stayed nearly the same. In essence, an extracellular analog signal (the concentration of hormone) had been converted into an intracellular digital signal (the number of calcium spikes). The observation of calcium spiking in many different kinds of eukaryotic cells suggests
Annual Review of Biophysics – Annual Reviews
Published: Jun 1, 1991
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