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Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Simultaneous Measurement of Mitochondrial Calcium and Mitochondrial Membrane Potential in Live Cells by Fluorescent Microscopy
Published on: January 24, 2017
Mitochondria regulate the amplitude of simple and complex calcium oscillations
V Grubelnik1, A Z Larsen, U Kummer
1Department of Physics, Faculty of Education, University of Maribor, Koroska cesta 160, SI-2000, Maribor, Slovenia
Abstract:
In a mathematical model for simple calcium oscillations [Biophys. Chem. 71 (1998) 125], it has been shown that mitochondria play an important role in the maintenance of constant amplitudes of cytosolic Ca(2+) oscillations. Simple plausible rate laws for Ca(2+) fluxes across the inner mitochondrial membrane have been used in this model. Here we show that it is possible to use the same rate laws as a plug-in element in other existing mathematical models and obtain the same effect on amplitude regulation. This result appears to be universal, independent of the type of model and the type of Ca(2+) oscillations. We demonstrate this on two models for spiking Ca(2+) oscillations [J. Biol. Chem. 266 (1991) 11068; Cell Calcium 14 (1993) 311] and on two recent models for bursting Ca(2+) oscillations; one of them being a receptor-operated model [Biophys. J. 79 (2000) 1188] and the other one being a store-operated model [BioSystems 57 (2000) 75].
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