title: Calcium signaling in lizard red blood cells.
abstract: The ion calcium is a ubiquitous second messenger, present in all eukaryotic cells. It modulates a vast number of cellular events, such as cell division and differentiation, fertilization, cell volume, decodification of external stimuli. To process this variety of information, the cells display a number of calcium pools, which are capable of mobilization for signaling purposes. Here we review the calcium signaling on lizards red blood cells, an interesting model that has been receiving an increasing notice recently. These cells possess a complex machinery to regulate calcium, and display calcium responses to extracellular agonists. Interestingly, the pattern of calcium handling and response are divergent in different lizard families, which enforces the morphological data to their phylogenetic classification, and suggest the radiation of different calcium signaling models in lizards evolution.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bagnaresi
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Miguel T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: cgarcia@usp.br.
authors.forename: Célia R S
authors.initials: CRS
authors.lastname: Garcia
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020013:Calcium Signaling; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D006706:Homeostasis; D008116:Lizards / Q000378:metabolism*; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism; D011983:Receptors, Purinergic / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011983:Receptors, Purinergic