Emergent Signaling Characteristics of Calcium in Sympathetic Neurons

Keywords:
neurons, calcium, emergent characteristics

Abstract:
In this paper we studied the signaling characteristics of calcium in sympathetic neurons through analyzing the functional interaction of calcium concentration in different intracellular compartments. The calcium levels in these intracellular compartments regulate a variety of neuro-physiological processes. The calcium concentration in three intracellular compartments is regulated through complex dynamic interactions of calcium transporters, effector molecules and calcium binding proteins. It is the interplay between the different components of calcium signaling cascade in sympathetic neurons which provides a regulating mechanism of calcium concentration. Here, we analyze the variation of calcium concentration in different compartments of sympathetic neurons under the influence of external and internal stimulus. We show that under the sustained application of an external stimulus i.e., the current the calcium concentration in different compartments is very much interdependent. Here we observed that under the sustained application of current the calcium concentration in cytosol remains unchanged. However, the calcium concentration both in endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria increases exponentially. We also noted that there is a lower and upper cross-over behavior with sustained application of current. We depicted that calcium concentration in mitochondria first crosses the cytosol at lower cross over point and at higher current levels the calcium concentration in mitochondria crosses the calcium levels in endoplasmic reticulum. These results suggest that calcium entering upon external stimulus is mainly concentrating in intracellular compartments. We also demonstrated that any variation in the properties if transporters regulating the calcium levels in different compartments of a sympathetic neuron can have significant effect on their relative interactions at a certain levels of external stimulus.

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Nanotech 2006 Conference Program Abstract