title: Sodium and calcium regulation and the role of the cytoskeleton in the pathogenesis of disease: a review and hypothesis.
abstract: Recent years have seen a rapid development in knowledge concerning ion regulation and the cytoskeleton and their roles in many normal and abnormal cell processes. The structure and function of the cytoskeleton plays a key part in a number of cell properties including cell shape, potential mobility of intracellular proteins including receptors, cell to cell adhesion, and many other phenomena such as secretion, phagocytosis and autophagocytosis. Although earlier studies have emphasized the roles of sodium and calcium ion modification following acute and chronic cell injury, it has not been until recently that volume regulation and sodium modification have been found to be intimately linked through mechanisms such as sodium-calcium exchange and that the interaction of these regulations are associated with the cytoskeleton and the cell membrane. Therefore, it is the purpose of this review not only to summarize the vast amount of data which has rapidly accumulated in this field, and to put it into perspective, but also to advance a hypothesis which, we hope, will eventually establish that a wide variety of pathological phenomena ranging from acute cell death to chronic processes such as neoplasia, hypertension and aging are all a common series of cellular reactions.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000209:etiology; D001343:Autophagy; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002147:Calmodulin / Q000378:metabolism; D002455:Cell Division; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000502:physiology; D002465:Cell Movement; D002470:Cell Survival; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000502:physiology*; D004194:Disease / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology; D007249:Inflammation / Q000209:etiology; D007511:Ischemia / Q000209:etiology; D008870:Microtubules / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism; D012038:Regeneration; D012964:Sodium / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002147:Calmodulin; D012964:Sodium; D002118:Calcium