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Updated: Mar 26, 2026

Fluorescence-based Measurement of Store-operated Calcium Entry in Live Cells: from Cultured Cancer Cell to Skeletal Muscle Fiber
Published on: February 13, 2012
Sigma-1 receptors: a new pathway for the modulation of store-operated calcium entry
1Department of Physiology (Cell Physiology Research Group), University of Extremadura, Cáceres 10003, Spain jarosado@unex.es.
Abstract:
SOCE (store-operated Ca(2+) entry) is a ubiquitous mechanism for Ca(2+) influx in animal cells. In a recent issue of the Biochemical Journal, Brailoiu and colleagues reported that cocaine attenuates SOCE in rat brain microvascular endothelial cells, via a mechanism that requires the expression and activation of the sigma-1 receptor, a chaperone located in the endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondrion interface that modulates intracellular Ca(2+) homoeostasis and cell survival. This study envisages a pathway through which cocaine modulates endothelial function via regulation of SOCE. The regulation of SOCE by sigma-1 receptors provides a novel and important pathway in Ca(2+) signalling.
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