Calcium Channels Symposium
Authors: Triggle C. R. , Wolowyk M. 
Published: April 2011

Calcium is an essential element for just about all cellular processes, and yet abnormally high levels of cellular calcium can cause cell death. The processes that control cellular levels of this metal ion are thus of critical importance to both normal and pathophysiological conditions. Essential in the regulation of intracellular calcium levels are the calcium channels associated with cell membranes, for instance, with the plasma and sarcoplasmic reticulum membranes of muscle cells. In recent years, there has been a tremendous increase in our knowledge of the structure and function of these channels. However, we also now realize that the term "calcium channels" is used to refer to a rather heterogeneous population of entities. In some instances, notably receptor-operated calcium channels, we have only indirect evidence for their existence, whereas with the voltage-dependent channels, considerable information is now available on their comparative physiology, pharmacology, and biochemistry. The main objective of the Symposium presented in Calgary during the 1989 CFBS meeting was to bring together experts in the area of the calcium channels associated with both smooth and striated muscle function so that they could present the current state of knowledge in this area.Dr. David Triggle, from the State University of New York in Buffalo, reviewed the importance of calcium and calcium channels in cellular function and highlighted the pharmacology of calcium channel antagonists particularly with respect to their effects on the L-type calcium channels associated with smooth muscle. Dr. Sidney Fleischer from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, focused on his work associated with the isolation and characterization of the calcium release channel – ryanodine receptor of the sarcoplasmic reticulum from striated muscle. Dr. Fleischer has referred interested readers to his recent review in the 1989 issue of the Annual Reviews of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry (18: 333–364). Dr. Balwant Tuana from the University of Ottawa presented an update complemented by original data from his laboratory in the Department of Pharmacology on the current state of knowledge of the structure of the L-type calcium channel associated with both skeletal and cardiac muscle. The last two speakers, Dr. Wayne Giles and Dr. Hamid Akbarali, both from the Department of Medical Physiology at the University of Calgary, completed the program by presenting a review of data concerning the electrical physiological properties of calcium-activated channels in cardiac and smooth muscle. Their manuscript highlights their recent studies, with co-workers in Calgary, of the properties of calcium-activated potassium currents from the human cystic artery.The organizers of this symposium, hosted by the Pharmacological Society of Canada, gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Alberta Heart and Stroke Foundation, Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation, Canadian Federation of Biological Societies, Charles River Laboratories (Canada Ltd.), SynPhar Laboratories Inc., Fisher Scientific Ltd., Novopharm Ltd., and Mandel Scientific Co. Ltd. The artistic contribution from Sylvia Ficken of Medical Audiovisual Services in the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland, who drew the symposium logo reproduced on the title page, is also gratefully acknowledged.