Dupont Geneviève, Combettes Laurent, Leybaert Luc
Theoretical Chronobiology Unit, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Faculté des Sciences, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Int Rev Cytol. 2007;261:193-245. doi: 10.1016/S0074-7696(07)61005-5.
Many essential physiological processes are controlled by calcium. To ensure reliability and specificity, calcium signals are highly organized in time and space in the form of oscillations and waves. Interesting findings have been obtained at various scales, ranging from the stochastic opening of a single calcium channel to the intercellular calcium wave spreading through an entire organ. A detailed understanding of calcium dynamics thus requires a link between observations at different scales. It appears that some regulations such as calcium-induced calcium release or PLC activation by calcium, as well as the weak diffusibility of calcium ions play a role at all levels of organization in most cell types. To comprehend how calcium waves spread from one cell to another, specific gap-junctional coupling and paracrine signaling must also be taken into account. On the basis of a pluridisciplinar approach ranging from physics to physiology, a unified description of calcium dynamics is emerging, which could help understanding how such a small ion can mediate so many vital functions in living systems.
许多重要的生理过程都受钙的调控。为确保可靠性和特异性，钙信号以振荡和波的形式在时间和空间上高度有序。从单个钙通道的随机开放到细胞间钙波在整个器官中的传播，在不同尺度上都获得了有趣的发现。因此，要详细了解钙动力学，就需要将不同尺度的观察联系起来。在大多数细胞类型中，诸如钙诱导的钙释放或钙对磷脂酶C的激活等一些调控机制，以及钙离子较弱的扩散性似乎在各级组织水平上都发挥着作用。为了理解钙波如何从一个细胞传播到另一个细胞，还必须考虑特定的缝隙连接耦合和旁分泌信号传导。基于从物理学到生理学的多学科方法，对钙动力学的统一描述正在形成，这有助于理解如此小的离子如何在生命系统中介导如此多的重要功能。
