title: Fire-diffuse-fire model of dynamics of intracellular calcium waves.
abstract: When Ca2+ is released from internal stores in living cells, the resulting wave of increased concentration can travel without deformation (continuous propagation) or with burst-like behavior (saltatory propagation). We analyze the "fire-diffuse-fire" model in order to illuminate the differences between these two modes of propagation. We show that the Ca2+ release wave in immature Xenopus oocytes and cardiac myocytes is saltatory, whereas the fertilization wave in the mature oocyte is continuous.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón I, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Dawson
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Keizer
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Pearson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization; D007424:Intracellular Fluid / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D008954:Models, Biological; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D009865:Oocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D014981:Xenopus
chemical_list: D002118:Calcium