On the conservation of calcium wave speeds

Most long distance calcium signals are believed to take the form of actively propagated calcium waves. In 1991, when this proposal was first advanced, all such waves were thought to belong to one class, for which fertilization waves were the prototype. Moreover, the speeds of such waves were found to be conserved at about 10 microns/s for primary fertilization waves and 30 microns/s for waves through fully active systems at 20 degrees C. In 1993, preliminary evidence for a second class of such waves was published and the prototype for these were ones which drive cell cleavage. These move at only about 1 micron/s at 20 degrees C and were, therefore, called slow calcium waves as opposed to the fast ones first considered. Here we compile compelling evidence that slow waves comprise a second distinct class of actively propagated calcium waves. This is based on 30 papers which yield evidence of slow calcium waves in organisms ranging from Dictyostelium to mammals and phenomena ranging from the surface contraction waves seen long ago in axolotl eggs to embryonic cleavage and mitotic waves and to ones recently seen to accompany primary neural induction in axolotls. Ultraslow and ultrafast calcium waves are also considered.