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Published on: May 7, 2013
Extracellular calcium sensing and signalling
Aldebaran M Hofer1, Edward M Brown
1West Roxbury Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Room 2B111, 1400 VFW Parkway, West Roxbury, Massachusetts 02132, USA. ahofer@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
Abstract:
Ca2+ is well established as an intracellular second messenger. However, the molecular identification of a detector for extracellular Ca2+--the extracellular calcium-sensing receptor--has opened up the possibility that Ca2+ might also function as a messenger outside cells. Information about the local extracellular Ca2+ concentration is conveyed to the interior of many cell types through this unique G-protein-coupled receptor. Here, we describe new emerging concepts concerning the signalling function of extracellular Ca2+, with particular emphasis on the extracellular calcium-sensing receptor.
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