title: Extracellular calcium sensing and signalling.
abstract: Ca2+ is well established as an intracellular second messenger. However, the molecular identification of a detector for extracellular Ca2+--the extracellular calcium-sensing receptor--has opened up the possibility that Ca2+ might also function as a messenger outside cells. Information about the local extracellular Ca2+ concentration is conveyed to the interior of many cell types through this unique G-protein-coupled receptor. Here, we describe new emerging concepts concerning the signalling function of extracellular Ca2+, with particular emphasis on the extracellular calcium-sensing receptor.
authors.affiliation: West Roxbury Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Room 2B111, 1400 VFW Parkway, West Roxbury, Massachusetts 02132, USA. ahofer@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Aldebaran M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Hofer
authors.forename: Edward M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000378:metabolism*; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000502:physiology*; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015220:Calcium Channels; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D002118:Calcium