Buffering Calcium Transients in Neurons

神经细胞利用钙离子将电信号转化为细胞内的生化变化。电活动引起细胞内钙的增加。一旦进入细胞内部，钙就会充当信使，将信息传递到细胞内部的各个部分。只有在电刺激或某些病理过程中，细胞中的钙浓度才会升高。在正常的静息条件下，通过一系列复杂的途径将钙泵出细胞，细胞内钙浓度保持在很低的水平。本研究的目的是表征从神经细胞中去除钙的过程。研究者感兴趣的是确定哪些途径存在于神经细胞中，以及钙的相对贡献如何随着钙挑战的大小而变化。本研究将检测不同电活动水平下的钙水平，并定位细胞中不同的钙途径。神经细胞将在培养中单独生长，并使用研究者开发的光学和电生理仪器进行检查。这项研究将增加对神经细胞如何在分子和细胞水平上处理信息的理解，揭示新的药物靶点，并深入了解钙超载引起的某些神经退行性疾病的机制。

Nerve cells utilize calcium ions to convert electrical signals to biochemical changes within the cell. Electrical activity causes an increase of intracellular calcium in the cell. Once inside, calcium acts as a messenger, carrying information to various parts of the cell's interior. Only during electrical stimulation, or during certain pathologies, is the calcium concentration in the cell elevated. Under normal resting conditions, the intracellular calcium concentration is kept very low by a complex series of pathways which pump calcium out of the cell. The purpose of this research is to characterize the processes which remove calcium from nerve cells. The investigator is interested in determining which pathways are present in nerve cells and how calcium's relative contribution changes with the size of a calcium challenge. This study will examine calcium levels during various levels of electrical activity and locate the various calcium pathways in the cell. Nerve cells will be grown individually in culture and examined by using optical and electrophysiological instrumentation developed by the investigator. This inquiry will increase the understanding of how nerve cells process information at the molecular and cellular level, revealing new target for drugs and insight into the mechanisms of certain neurodegenerative disorders caused by calcium overload.