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(Circulation Research. 2002;90:933.)
© 2002 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

L-Type Calcium Channels

Highs and New Lows

Diane Lipscombe

From the Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, RI.

Correspondence to Diane Lipscombe, Box G-1953, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912. E-mail Diane_Lipscombe@Brown.edu

Key Words: L-type calcium channels • _1D • low voltage–activated • voltage-gated calcium channels

Voltage-gated calcium channels are essential for coupling membrane depolarization to the influx of calcium in all excitable cells. The calcium that flows into excitable cells through voltage-gated calcium channels serves a dual function, generating both electrical and chemical signals. The intracellular events controlled by calcium are diverse and many. Excitable cells can select from a number of functionally distinct voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channel subunits, whose activities are precisely tuned to support specific tasks. These include excitation-contraction coupling in muscle, excitation-secretion coupling in neurons, hair cells, and endocrine cells, and regulation of gene expression.^1–5 Ten genes encode the main Ca_V1 subunit of the voltage-gated calcium channel complex in mammals.⁶ Sequence comparisons among Ca_V1 genes from several genomes reveal three major families, Ca_V1₁, Ca_V2 ₁, and Ca_V3 ₁.⁶

Even before the availability of selective toxins, several investigators demonstrated that multiple, functionally distinct classes of voltage-gated calcium channels are expressed in a variety of cell types including heart.^8–11 This division was based on the presence of two distinct classes of calcium channels that differed significantly in their voltage dependence of activation. The concept of low voltage-activated and high voltage-activated calcium channels was established, and although simple, this remains a useful and informative way for distinguishing among different classes of calcium channels.

Certain features have emerged from studies of voltage-gated calcium channels in heart and neurons that have established a set of standard criteria to define the presence of a specific Ca²⁺ channel subtype. Low voltage-activated, T-type, Ca²⁺ channels that contain . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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