Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), induced by mutations in the gene encoding for the cytoskeletal protein dystrophin, is an inherited disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness. Besides the relatively well characterized skeletal muscle degenerative processes, DMD is also associated with cardiac complications. These include cardiomyopathy development and cardiac arrhythmias. The curren...

L-type calcium channels mediate depolarization-induced calcium influx in insulin-secreting cells and are thought to be modulated by G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The major fraction of L-type alpha1-subunits in pancreatic beta-cells is of the neuroendocrine subtype (CaV1.3 or alpha1D). Here we studied the biophysical properties and receptor regulation of a CaV1.3 subunit previously cloned...

BACKGROUND The authors investigated the role of different voltage-sensitive calcium channels expressed at presynaptic afferent terminals in substance P release and on nociceptive behavior evoked by intraplantar formalin by examining the effects of intrathecally delivered N- (ziconotide), T- (mibefradil), and L-type voltage-sensitive calcium channel blockers (diltiazem and verapamil). METHODS ...

L-type calcium channels are composed of a pore, 1c (CaV1.2), and accessory and 2 subunits. The -subunit core structure was recently resolved at high resolution, providing important information on many functional aspects of channel modulation. In this study we reveal differential novel effects of five 2-subunits isoforms expressed in human heart ( 2a-e) on the single L-type calcium channel curre...

The deficiency of dystrophin, a critical membrane stabilizing protein, in the mdx mouse causes an elevation in intracellular calcium in myocytes. One mechanism that could elicit increases in intracellular calcium is enhanced influx via the L-type calcium channels. This study investigated the effects of the dihydropyridines BAY K 8644 and nifedipine and alterations in dihydropyridine receptors i...

It is now clear that the wide variety of neuronal voltage-dependent calcium channels (Table 1) are determinants of transmitter release (N-type, P-type, Q-type channels), repetitive or burst neuronal firing (T-type channels) and perhaps of some aspects of gene expression (L-type channels). However, although the calcium overload hypothesis of neuronal cell death has been around for 14 years, ther...

conclusions ip injection of cb1 receptor antagonist might have an anxiogenic profile in rat, whereas calcium channel blocker attenuated the anxiogenic effect of am251. our results suggest that there is an interaction between functions of l-type ca2+ channels and cannabinoid system in anxiety. background the elevated plus-maze (epm) has been broadly used to investigate anxiolytic and anxiogenic ...

Previous studies have demonstrated multiple components of whole-cell calcium currents in hypoglossal motoneurons (HMs); HMs possess a low-voltage-activated (LVA) current and three types of high-voltage-activated (HVA) calcium currents based on sensitivity to omega-Aga IVA, omega-Conotoxin GVIA (omega-CgTx) and dihydropyridine analogs (DHPs). In the present study, we recorded single-calcium chan...