Endoplasmic Reticulum Calcium Signaling in Hippocampal Neurons.

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a key organelle in cellular homeostasis, regulating calcium levels and coordinating protein synthesis and folding. In neurons, the ER forms interconnected sheets and tubules that facilitate the propagation of calcium-based signals. Calcium plays a central role in the modulation and regulation of numerous functions in excitable cells.

The spatio-temporal properties of calcium transients in hippocampal pyramidal neurons .

The spatio-temporal properties of calcium signals were studied in cultured pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus using two-dimensional fluorescence microscopy and ratiometric dye Fura-2. Depolarization-induced Ca transients revealed an asynchronous delayed increase in free Ca concentration. We found that the level of free resting calcium in the cell nucleus is significantly lower compared to the soma, sub-membrane, and dendritic tree regions.

Error correction due to background subtraction in ratiometric calcium measurements with CCD camera.

Background: Ca plays an important role in many physiological processes and an accurate study of these signals is important. In modern fluorescence microscopy, a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera is widely deployed for calcium imaging. The ratiometric method is used for the fluorescence dye Fura-2 and Grynkiewitz's formula (Grynkiewicz et al.

Ca(2+) release events in cardiac myocytes up close: insights from fast confocal imaging.

The spatio-temporal properties of Ca(2+) transients during excitation-contraction coupling and elementary Ca(2+) release events (Ca(2+) sparks) were studied in atrial and ventricular myocytes with ultra-fast confocal microscopy using a Zeiss LSM 5 LIVE system that allows sampling rates of up to 60 kHz. Ca(2+) sparks which originated from subsarcolemmal junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum (j-SR) release sites in atrial myocytes were anisotropic and elongated in the longitudinal direction of the cell. Ca(2+) sparks in atrial cells originating from non-junctional SR and in ventricular myocytes were symmetrical.

Using two dyes with the same fluorophore to monitor cellular calcium concentration in an extended range.

We extend the sensitivity of quantitative concentration imaging to an approximately 1000-fold range of concentrations by a method that uses two fluorescent dyes with the same fluorophore, having different affinity for the monitored species. While the formulation and illustration refer to a monitor of calcium concentration, the method is applicable to any species that binds to multiple indicators with the same spectral properties. The use of a common fluorophore has the virtue of leaving vast regions of the electromagnetic spectrum available for other applications.