title: The Calcium-Sensing Receptor and the Parathyroid: Past, Present, Future.
abstract: Parathyroid hormone (PTH) defends the extracellular fluid from hypocalcemia and has powerful and well-documented actions on the skeleton and renal tubular system. To achieve a satisfactory stable plasma calcium level, the secretion of PTH, and the resulting serum PTH level, is titrated carefully to the prevailing plasma ionized Ca2+concentration via a Ca2+sensing mechanism that mediates feedback inhibition of PTH secretion. Herein, I consider the properties of the parathyroid Ca2+sensing mechanism, the identity of the Ca2+sensor, the intracellular biochemical mechanisms that it controls, the manner of its integration with other components of the PTH secretion control mechanism, and its modulation by other nutrients. Together the well-established, recently elucidated, and yet-to-be discovered elements of the story constitute the past, present, and future of the parathyroid and its calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR).
authors.affiliation: Faculties of Science and Medicine, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Arthur D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Conigrave
keywords: Calcimimetics; adenylate cyclase; calcilytics; calcium-sensing receptor; heterotrimeric G proteins; mineral metabolism; parathyroid; phospholipase C