Effect of pore formers on intracellular calcium

• Published in: Cell calcium (Edinburgh) Vol. 7; no. 5; pp. 387 - 397
• Main Author: Pasternak, C.A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier India Pvt Ltd 01.12.1986; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Calcium - metabolism; Cell Membrane Permeability; Cell physiology; Extracellular Space - metabolism; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Ion Channels - metabolism; Membrane and intracellular transports; Molecular and cellular biology; Detergent; Calcium; Cytotoxicity; Complement; Lysine polymer; Review; Permeability; Biological activity; Virus; Toxin; Membrane transport; Plasma membrane; Bacteria; Intracellular
• ISSN: 0143-4160; 1532-1991
• DOI: 10.1016/0143-4160(86)90041-2

An increase in non-specific permeability across the plasma membrane of cells bathed in physiological media leads to an increase in intracellular Ca 2+. The extent of the increase depends on the extent of the membrane lesion; the duration of the increase depends on the metabolic capability of cells to pump Ca 2+ out. A slight, transient increase in cytosolic Ca 2+ can be beneficial because it activates repair mechanisms; a large, sustained, increase is toxic because it impairs normal cell function. Extracellular Ca 2+ prevents increases in non-specific permeability: only when the protective action of extracellular Ca 2+ is overcome by pore-forming agents does intracellular Ca 2+ rise to toxic levels. The beneficial actions of Ca 2+, superimposed on its damaging effect, account for some of the paradoxical effects of Ca 2+ that have been described in the literature.