The molecular heterogeneity of voltage-gated calcium channels is mirrored by extensive biophysical diversity. Subtype-selective antagonists have been used to place different kinds of calcium channels in functional categories. Dihydropyridine (DHP) antagonists have been used, for example, to implicate L-type calcium channels in the induction of NMDA receptor-independent forms of synaptic plastic...

Mounting in vitro, in vivo and clinical evidence suggest an important role for filopodia in driving cancer cell invasion. Using a high-throughput microscopic-based drug screen, we identify FDA-approved calcium channel blockers (CCBs) as potent inhibitors of filopodia formation in cancer cells. Unexpectedly, we discover that L-type calcium channels are functional and frequently expressed in canc...

We have shown previously that metabotropic glutamate receptors with group I-like pharmacology couple to N-type and P/Q-type calcium channels in acutely isolated cortical neurons using G proteins most likely belonging to the Gi/Go subclass. To better understand the potential mechanisms forming the basis for group I mGluR modulation of voltage-gated calcium channels in the CNS, we have examined t...

Previous studies have shown that corticosterone enhances whole cell calcium currents in CA1 pyramidal neurons, through a pathway involving binding of glucocorticoid receptor homodimers to the DNA. We examined whether glucocorticoids show selectivity for L- over N-type of calcium currents. Moreover, we addressed the putative gene targets that eventually lead to the enhanced calcium currents. Ele...

At least four calcium channel subtypes (P, T, N, and L) have now been classified on the basis of their biophysical and/or pharmacological properties. L-type channels, a channel family particularly important to physiological function of the cardiovascular system, are identified by their slow voltage- and calcium-dependent inactivation as well as their sensitivity to dihydropyridine (DHP) calcium...

Calcium channel blockers are widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular disorders for their actions on the voltage sensitive calcium channels in cardiac and smooth muscles. The reorganization on calcium channel antagonist binding sites in the limbic regions of the brain, raises the hope that these might also be helpful in some behavioural disorders. Calcium channel blockers act by blocking ...

Small-conductance calcium-activated potassium (SK) channels play an important role in regulating neuronal excitability. While SK channels at the soma have long been known to contribute to the medium afterhyperpolarization (mAHP), recent evidence indicates they also regulate NMDA receptor activation in dendritic spines. Here we investigate the activation of SK channels in spines and dendrites of...