Ryanodine receptors (RyRs) are large, high conductance Ca2+ channels that control the level of intracellular Ca2+ by releasing Ca2+ from an intracellular compartment, the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum. Mammalian tissues express 3 closely related ryanodine receptors (RyRs) known as skeletal muscle (RyR1), cardiac muscle (RyR2) and brain (RyR3). The RyRs are isolated as 30S protein complexes compri...

Pancreatic beta-cells have ryanodine receptors but little is known about their physiological regulation. Previous studies have shown that arachidonic acid releases Ca(2+) from intracellular stores in beta-cells but the identity of the channels involved in the Ca(2+) release has not been elucidated. We studied the mechanism by which arachidonic acid induces Ca(2+) concentration changes in pancre...

OBJECTIVE Recent evidence shows that calcium released from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) plays an important role in the regulation of heart rate. The aim of this study was to investigate the subcellular distribution of ryanodine receptors in the guinea-pig sino-atrial (SA) node and to determine their functional role in the regulation of pacemaker frequency in response to beta-adrenoceptor sti...

The sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of smooth muscle is endowed with two different types of Ca2+ release channels, i.e. inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors (IP3Rs) and ryanodine receptors (RyRs). In general, both release channels mobilize Ca2+ from the same internal store in smooth muscle. While the importance of IP3Rs in agonist-induced contraction is well established, the role of RyRs in excit...

Several putative roles for ryanodine receptors (RyR) were investigated in human and bovine airway smooth muscle. Changes in intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) and membrane current were investigated in single cells by confocal fluorimetry and patch-clamp electrophysiology, respectively, whereas mechanical activity was monitored in intact strips with force transducers. RyR released Ca2+ f...

Synaptically released glutamate evokes slow IPSPs mediated by metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) in midbrain dopamine neurons. These mGluR IPSPs are caused by release of Ca(2+) from intracellular stores and subsequent activation of small-conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channels (SK channels). To further investigate the intracellular mechanisms involved, the effect of photolyzing intrac...

A peptide toxin isolated from the Chinese scorpion Buthus martensi Karsch (BmK-PL) stimulated Ca2+-release channel activity in both triad membranes and reconstituted ryanodine receptors partially purified from rabbit skeletal muscle. In [3H]ryanodine binding experiments, the toxin increased the affinity of ryanodine for the receptor, from a Kd of 24.3 nM to 2.9 nM, which is an enhancement simil...

Ca2+ release from skeletal muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum is activated by adenine nucleotides and suramin. Because suramin is known to interact with ATP-binding enzymes and ATP receptors (P2-purinergic receptors), the stimulation by suramin has been postulated to occur via the adenine nucleotide-binding site of the ryanodine receptor/Ca2+-release channel. We tested this hypothesis using suramin ...

Ca2+ released from presynaptic and postsynaptic intracellular stores plays important roles in activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, including long-term depression (LTD) of synaptic strength. At Schaffer collateral-CA1 synapses in the hippocampus, presynaptic ryanodine receptor-gated stores appear to mobilize some of the Ca2+ necessary to induce LTD. Cyclic ADP-ribose (cADPR) has recently been...

In pancreatic acinar cells, agonists evoke intracellular Ca(2+) transients which are initiated in the apical region of these polarized cells. There are contradictory experimental data concerning Ca(2+) release from ryanodine receptors (RyRs) in the apical region. In the present study, we have used low doses of ryanodine to open RyRs leading to the release of Ca(2+) from intracellular stores. Ry...