title: Calcium signaling in cardiac ventricular myocytes.
abstract: Calcium (Ca) is a multifunctional regulator of diverse cellular functions. In cardiac muscle Ca is a direct central mediator of electrical activation, ion channel gating, and excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling that all occur on the millisecond time scale. The key amplification step in E-C coupling is under tight control of very local [Ca]. Ca also directly activates signaling via kinases and phosphatases (e.g., Ca-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase [CaMKII] and calcineurin) that occur over a longer time scale (seconds to minutes), and the co-localization of these Ca-dependent modulators to their targets and to Ca is also critical in distinct signaling pathways. Finally, Ca-dependent signaling is also involved in long-term (minutes to hours/days) alterations in gene expression (or excitation-transcription coupling). These pathways are involved in hypertrophy and heart failure, and they can alter the expression of some of the key Ca regulatory proteins involved in E-C coupling and their regulation by kinases and phosphatases. There may again be physical microenvironments involved in this nuclear transcription, such that they sense a discrete Ca signal that is distinct from that involved in E-C coupling. In this way cells can use Ca signaling in multiple ways that function in spatially and temporally distinct manners.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Loyola University Chicago, 2160 S. First Ave, Maywood, IL 60153, USA. dbers@lumc.edu
authors.forename: Donald M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Bers
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000502:physiology*; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D010766:Phosphorylation
chemical_list: D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases