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Regulation of myocardial contraction as revealed by intracellular Ca2+ measurements using aequorin

Authors :
Satoshi Kurihara
Norio Fukuda
Source :
Journal of Physiological Sciences, Vol 74, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
BMC, 2024.

Abstract

Abstract Of the ions involved in myocardial function, Ca2+ is the most important. Ca2+ is crucial to the process that allows myocardium to repeatedly contract and relax in a well-organized fashion; it is the process called excitation–contraction coupling. In order, therefore, for accurate comprehension of the physiology of the heart, it is fundamentally important to understand the detailed mechanism by which the intracellular Ca2+ concentration is regulated to elicit excitation–contraction coupling. Aequorin was discovered by Shimomura, Johnson and Saiga in 1962. By taking advantage of the fact that aequorin emits blue light when it binds to Ca2+ within the physiologically relevant concentration range, in the 1970s and 1980s, physiologists microinjected it into myocardial preparations. By doing so, they proved that Ca2+ transients occur upon membrane depolarization, and tension development (i.e., actomyosin interaction) subsequently follows, dramatically advancing the research on cardiac excitation–contraction coupling.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
18806562
Volume :
74
Issue :
1
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Journal of Physiological Sciences
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.be351a76e54a3da438b921e6c27db5
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12576-024-00906-7