Membrane calcium ions

Figure 21-15 Comparison of a liquid-membrane calcium ion electrode with a glass pH electrode. (Courtesy of Thermo Orion, Beverly, MA.)...

Figure 14,12 Phosphoinositide cascade. The cleavage of phosphatidyl inositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP ) into diacyiglycerol (DAG) and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP5) results in the release of calcium ions (due to the opening of the IP3 receptor ion channels) and the activation of protein kinase C (due to the binding of protein kinase C to free DAG in the membrane). Calcium ions bind to protein kinase C and help facilitate its activation.

Khalil, S.A.H., G.J. Moody, J.D.R. Thomas, and J. Lima. 1986. Epoxy-based all-sohd-state polyvinylchloride) matrix membrane calcium ion-selective microelectrodes. Analyst 111 611-617. 

The effect of calcium on several properties of acidic monolayers has been studied in the hope that the ionic behaviour of these systems may approximate that of the biological membranes. Calcium ions are important in muscle contraction, erythrocyte deforma-bility, enzyme reactions, nerve impulse transmission and propagation, and membrane permeability. 

One example of a liquid-based ion-selective electrode is that for Ca +, which uses a porous plastic membrane saturated with di-(n-decyl) phosphate (Figure 11.13). As shown in Figure 11.14, the membrane is placed at the end of a nonconducting cylindrical tube and is in contact with two reservoirs. The outer reservoir contains di-(n-decyl) phosphate in di- -octylphenylphosphonate, which soaks into the porous membrane. The inner reservoir contains a standard aqueous solution of Ca + and a Ag/AgCl reference electrode. Calcium ion-selective electrodes are also available in which the di-(n-decyl) phosphate is immobilized in a polyvinyl chloride... 

Contraction of muscle follows an increase of Ca " in the muscle cell as a result of nerve stimulation. This initiates processes which cause the proteins myosin and actin to be drawn together making the cell shorter and thicker. The return of the Ca " to its storage site, the sarcoplasmic reticulum, by an active pump mechanism allows the contracted muscle to relax (27). Calcium ion, also a factor in the release of acetylcholine on stimulation of nerve cells, influences the permeabiUty of cell membranes activates enzymes, such as adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase), Hpase, and some proteolytic enzymes and facihtates intestinal absorption of vitamin B 2 [68-19-9] (28). 

Extrinsic Pathway. Coagulation is initiated when tissue extracts with Hpid—protein properties are released from the membranes of endothehal cells following injury or insult. These substances, collectively designated tissue thromboplastin, complex with circulating Factor VII and in the presence of calcium ions subsequentiy activate Factor X (Fig. 1). In vitro evidence suggests that Factor X can be activated less rapidly through the interaction of kaUikrein [9001-01-8] with Factor VII. 

Systemic and coronary arteries are influenced by movement of calcium across cell membranes of vascular smooth muscle. The contractions of cardiac and vascular smooth muscle depend on movement of extracellular calcium ions into these walls through specific ion channels. Calcium channel blockers, such as amlodipine (Norvasc), diltiazem (Cardizem), nicardipine (Cardene), nifedipine (Procardia), and verapamil (Calan), inhibit die movement of calcium ions across cell membranes. This results in less calcium available for the transmission of nerve impulses (Fig. 41-1). This drug action of the calcium channel blockers (also known as slow channel blockers) has several effects on die heart, including an effect on die smooth muscle of arteries and arterioles. These drug dilate coronary arteries and arterioles, which in turn deliver more oxygen to cardiac muscle. Dilation of peripheral arteries reduces die workload of die heart. The end effect of these drug is the same as that of die nitrates. 

Calcium levels in the myofibrillar space are usually low, to prevent contraction. The calcium ions are stored in an internal membrane system called the sarcoplasmic... 

Prothrombin and several other proteins of the blood clotting system (Factors VII, IX and X, and proteins C and S) each contain between four and six y-carboxygluta-mate residues which chelate calcium ions and so permit the binding of the blood clotting proteins to membranes. In vitamin K deficiency or in the presence of warfarin, an abnormal precursor of prothrombin (preprothrombin) containing little or no y-carboxyglutamate, and incapable of chelating calcium, is released into the circulation. 

In contradistinction to site-specific molecules there are other toxins which, in a sense, create their own specificity. Thus ionophore toxins, by opening up the cell membrane to sodium and calcium ions, create their own specificity. Prime examples of this are found in cytolytic toxins in general, and jellyfish toxins and palytoxin in particular. 

Therefore, it is currently believed that anandamide is formed from membrane phospholipids (Fig. 4) through a pathway that involves (1) a trans-acylation of the amino group of phosphatidylethanolamine with arachidonate from the sn-1 position of phosphatidylcholine and (2) a D-type phosphodiesterase activity on the resulting A-arachidonylphosphati-dylethanolamide (NAPE). Synthesis of anandamide is presumably regulated at the levels of both enzymes, the A-acyltranferase and the phospholipase D, by stimuli that raise intracellular calcium or by receptors linked with cAMP and PKA. It has been shown that anandamide is formed when neurons are depolarized and, therefore, the intracellular calcium ion levels are elevated (Cadas, 1996). 

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