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Activity-dependent calcium transients in central nervous system myelinated axons revealed by the calcium indicator
1Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Abstract:
Optical measurements from rat optic nerve, loaded with the new Ca2+ indicator Fura-2, provide the first evidence for the presence of activity-dependent fast intracellular [Ca2+] transients in mammalian central nervous system (CNS) myelinated axons. The results suggest that voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels are present in some of the myelinated axons. Optical measurements from axons stained with anterogradely transported voltage-sensitive dye suggest the presence of Ca2+-dependent potassium conductances in these axons. This report also demonstrates that Fura-2 can readily detect changes in [Ca2+] inside cells as a result of electrical activity, and establishes its suitability for measurements of intracellular Ca2+ transients in the millisecond time domain.