Messenger role of calcium in ciliary electromotor coupling: a reassessment

Electrophysiological and cell reactivation studies in Paramecium and other ciliates have established that depolarizing stimulation opens voltage-sensitive ciliary Ca2+ channels leading to an elevation in intraciliary Ca2+, a rapid 'reversal' in sliding-microtubule based ciliary activity and backward swimming. Regulation of cilia by hyperpolarization modulates the pitch and rate of forward locomotion. The control of this predominant behaviour has been a matter of controversy because ciliary conductances do not change with negative shifts from the resting potential. Recordings of ciliary responses during electrophysiological manipulation of the Ca driving force in the ciliates Stylonychia and Didinium now suggests that a crucial step in hyperpolarization-induced ciliary activation (HCA) is a reduction in intraciliary Ca2+ from a resting steady-state level. The data are discussed with respect to previous hypotheses for the regulation of HCA.