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Updated: May 17, 2026

Generation of Local CA1 γ Oscillations by Tetanic Stimulation
Published on: August 14, 2015
Irregular Ca(2+) oscillations regulate transcription via cumulative spike duration and spike amplitude
Shanshan Song1, Jiansha Li, Liping Zhu
1Department of Pathophysiology, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong Science and Technology University, Wuhan 430030, People's Republic of China.
Background:
[Ca(2+)](i) oscillations are irregular and heterogeneous.
Results:
The correlations between NFκB/STAT3-GFP transcription and [Ca(2+)](i) spike amplitude/cumulative spike duration are revealed by simultaneous monitoring in single cells and validated in cell population.
Conclusion:
[Ca(2+)](i) oscillations regulate transcription through [Ca(2+)](i) spike amplitude and cumulative spike duration.
Significance:
How irregular [Ca(2+)](i) oscillations control transcription is crucial for understanding biological [Ca(2+)](i) signal-regulated events. Agonist-stimulated [Ca(2+)](i) oscillations are universally irregular in their kinetics. How irregular [Ca(2+)](i) oscillations dynamically regulate agonist-stimulated downstream events has not been studied. To overcome the obstacles of irregularity and heterogeneity of [Ca(2+)](i) oscillations, agonist-stimulated [Ca(2+)](i) signaling and NFκB/STAT3-GFP nuclear translocation were simultaneously monitored in each single cell examined. The cause-effect relationship between [Ca(2+)](i) oscillation parameters and transcriptional activities was validated in cell populations through irregular [Ca(2+)](i) oscillations with varied parameters. The time duration of cumulative [Ca(2+)](i) elevations reaching the threshold [Ca(2+)](i) level for a transcriptional factor activation and [Ca(2+)](i) spike amplitude was found to control agonist-stimulated transcription and gene expression.
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