Calcium function

Cormier, M. J., and Charbonneau, H. (1977). Isolation, properties and function of a calcium-triggered luciferin binding protein. In Wasserman, R. H., et al. (eds.), Calcium Binding Proteins and Calcium Function, pp. 481-489. Elsevier North-Holland. 

In addition to its role as a bone component, calcium functions as a signaling substance. Ca "" ions act as second messengers in signal transduction pathways (see p. 386), they trigger exocytosis (see p. 228) and muscle contraction (see p. 334), and they are indispensable as cofactors in blood coagulation (see p. 290). Many enzymes also require Ca "" for their activity. The intracellular and extracellular concentrations of Ca "" are strictly regulated in order to make these functions possible (see B, C, and p.388). 

Bowden CL, Huang LG, Javors MA, et al Calcium function in affective disorders and healthy controls. Biol Psychiatry 23 367-376, 1988 Bowden C, Cheetham SC, Crompton MR, et al Dopamine and its metabolites in depressed suicide victims (abstract). Can J Physiol Pharmacol 72 (suppl 1) 386,... 

Mellow AM, Solano-Lopez C, Davis S Sodium valproate in the treatment of behavioral disturbance in dementia. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 6 28-32, 1993 Meltzer HL Mode of action of hthium in affective disorders an influence on intracellular calcium functions. Pharmacol Toxicol 66 84-99, 1990 Meltzer HL, Kassir S, Dunner DL, et al Repression of a lithium pump as a consequence of hthium ingestion by manic-depressive subjects. Psychopharmacology 54 113-118, 1982... 

Hauschka, P. V., Gallup, P. M. Purification and calcium-binding-properties of osteocalcin, the 7-carboxyglutamate-containing-protein of bone. In Calcium binding proteins and calcium function, pp. 338. Wassermann, R. H. et al. New York North Holland 1977... 

Price, P. A., Otsuka, A. S., Poser, J. W. Comparison of 7-carboxyglutamic acid-containing proteins from bovine and swordfish bone Primary structure and Ca++ binding, In calcium binding protein and calcium function, p.333. Wassermann, R. A., Corradino, E., Carafoli,... 

Many aspects of calcium function are poorly understood. Among these is the role of a group of proteins known as annexins (formerly lipocortins, calpactins, endonexins, etc.).522 The ten or more members of the annexin family523 527 share the property of binding to phospholipid membranes in the presence of Ca2+. One of the several proposed functions of annex-... 

Binding Proteins and Calcium Function , North Holland, New York, 1977. 

Klee, C. B. and Means, A. R., 2002, Keeping up with calcium conference on calcium-binding proteins and calcium function in health and disease, EMBO Rep, 3, pp 823-7. 

For a recent review of mitochondrial calcium function and dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases (including HD) see Nicholls (2009). 

Kakkar P, Mehrotra S, Viaswanathan PN (1992) Interrelation of active oxygen species, membrane damage and altered calcium functions. Mol Cell Biochem 111 11-15. 

Calcium is one of the most common elements on earth. Most calcium involved in biological systems occurs as hydroxyapatite. a sialic, stabilizing structure like that found in bone. The remaining calcium is ionic (Ca ). Ionic calcium functions as a biochemical regulator, more often within the cell. The importance of calcium ions to physiological functions was realiz.ed first by Ringer, who observed in 1883 the role of Ca in cardiac contracliiity. 

In summary, one might expect to find calcium-binding proteins playing six distinct roles in living systems 1. binding sites on the outer surface of plasma membranes, 2. transport carriers in cell membranes, 3. intracellular storage reservoirs of calcium, 4. intracellular receptors linked to calcium function (i.e., in contractile systems), 5. as part of matrix of mineralized tissues and, 6. as a co-factor in calcium-activated enzymes. 

Calcium functions at both extracellular and cellular sites. Its extracellular functions consist of the maintenance of normal ion products for mineralization cofactor for prothrombin factors Vll, IX, and X and maintenance of plasma membrane stability and permeability. 

P. V. Mauschka and P. M. Gallop, in Calcium-binding Proteins and Calcium Function , ed. R. H. Wasserman, R. A. Corradino, E. Carafoli, R. H. Kretsinger, D. H. MacLennan and F. L. Siegel, Elsevier/North Holland, Amsterdam,... 

Calcium Function in Blood Coagulation Gary L. Nelsestuen... 

Likewise calcium is needed to couple the release of a neurotransmitter to a muscular contraction. Calcium seems also to initiate proliferation in many kinds of cells, such as muscle cells, lymphocytes, and fibroblasts. It also plays a role in phagocytosis. Those ionophores (Section 14.2) that transport calcium into cells can initiate many of these effects. Some think that, at the molecular level, calcium functions by giving ATPase access to its substrate (ATP), thus providing the energy for these various actions. 

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