Abstract
The concept that Ca might serve as an intracellular messenger to couple stimulus to response in excitable tissues is well established. An understanding of the precise mechanisms by which second messengers act, requires information on the temporal nature of changes in second messenger concentration and their spatial distibution within the cell. By optical imaging with fluorescent Ca-indicators, it was found that the change in intracellular free Ca-concentration is often transient and spatially inhomogeneous (for a recent review see Tsien and Tsien, 1990). Appreciation of this particular paradox leads to the recognition that Ca-cycling in the target cell has an important, spatially and temporally distinct messenger function. The purpose of this communication is to consider the intracellular messenger role of Ca in generation of specific transients and gradients in the cytoplasm of nerve cells.
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© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Mironov, S.L. (1993). Spatiotemporal Inhomogeneity of [Ca]i in Neurons. In: Dirnagl, U., Villringer, A., Einhäupl, K.M. (eds) Optical Imaging of Brain Function and Metabolism. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 333. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2468-1_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2468-1_13
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