Abstract
The level of free calcium within the cytosol regulates a range of cellular processes. Complex homeostatic mechanisms based on calcium pumps ensure that the resting level of calcium is kept low (~100 nm). A variety of external signals can trigger an increase in calcium either by promoting an influx of external calcium or by mobilizing calcium from intracellular reservoirs. The ability of many agonists (neurotransmitters, hormones, and growth factors) to generate such calcium signals is very dependent on the hydrolysis of inositol lipids (Michell 1975; Berridge and Fain 1979). This calcium-signaling pathway has a series of transduction steps. The external signal arriving at the cell surface triggers lipid hydrolysis to give inositol trisphosphate, and that then mobilizes the calcium responsible for stimulating a variety of effector systems.
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