Initiation of IP(3)-mediated Ca(2+) waves in Xenopus oocytes.
Inositol (1,4,5)-trisphosphate (IP(3)) evokes Ca(2+) liberation in Xenopus oocytes as elementary events (Ca(2+) puffs) that become coupled to propagate Ca(2+) waves with increasing [IP(3)]. To investigate this transition between local and global Ca(2+) signaling, we developed an optical method for evoking rapid subcellular Ca(2+) elevations, while independently photoreleasing IP(3) and simultaneously recording confocal Ca(2+) images. Focal Ca(2+) elevations triggered waves within 100 ms of photoreleasing IP(3), compared with latencies of seconds following photorelease of IP(3) alone. Wave velocity varied with [IP(3)] but was independent of time after photorelease of IP(3), indicating that delayed wave initiation did not involve slow binding of IP(3) to its receptors. The amount of Ca(2+) required to trigger a wave was approximately 10-fold greater than the average size of puffs, and puffs showed no progressive increase in magnitude before waves initiated. Instead, Ca(2+) puffs contributed to a slow rise in basal free [Ca(2+)], which further increased puff frequency and sensitized IP(3) receptors so that individual events then triggered waves. Because the wave threshold is much greater than the size of the elementary puff, cells can employ both local and global signaling mechanisms, and the summation of stochastic behavior of elementary events allows generation of reproducible periodic waves.
Marchant
J
J
Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-4550, USA.
Callamaras
N
N
Parker
I
I
D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000378:metabolism; D020013:Calcium Signaling; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism; D015544:Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate / Q000378:metabolism*; D053496:Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate Receptors; D009865:Oocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000378:metabolism; D014981:Xenopus
D015220:Calcium Channels; D053496:Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate Receptors; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; D015544:Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate; D002118:Calcium