Cardiac contractility is regulated by changes in intracellular Ca concentration ([Ca2+] i).
Normal function requires that [Ca2+] i be sufficiently high in systole and low in diastole …

Cardiac arrhythmias are among the leading causes of mortality. They often arise from
alterations in the electrophysiological properties of cardiac cells and their underlying ionic …

Calcium overload, characterized by an abnormal cytoplasm accumulation of free calcium
ions (Ca 2+), is a widely recognized cause of damage in numerous cell types and even of …

One of the major challenges in modern biology is to understand how the molecular
components of a living cell operate in a highly noisy environment. What are the specific …

Ca2+ is a fundamental second messenger in all cell types and is required for numerous
essential cellular functions, including cardiac and skeletal muscle contraction. The …

How is the heartbeat generated? What controls the strength of contraction of heart muscle?
What are the links between cardiac structure and function? How does our understanding of …

The Na+/Ca2+ exchanger, an ion transport protein, is expressed in the plasma membrane
(PM) of virtually all animal cells. It extrudes Ca2+ in parallel with the PM ATP-driven Ca2+ …

The inositol 1, 4, 5-trisphosphate (InsP3) receptors (InsP3Rs) are a family of Ca2+ release
channels localized predominately in the endoplasmic reticulum of all cell types. They …

Calcium ions are ubiquitous and versatile signaling molecules, capable of decoding a
variety of extracellular stimuli (hormones, neurotransmitters, growth factors, etc.) into …

Calcium is a ubiquitous second messenger used to regulate a wide range of cellular
processes. This role in signalling has to be conducted against the rigid homeostatic …