The Plasma Membrane Ca2+ ATPase and the Plasma Membrane Sodium Calcium Exchanger Cooperate in the Regulation of Cell Calcium

Calcium is an ambivalent signal: it is essential for the correct functioning of cell life, but may also become dangerous to it. The plasma membrane Ca2+ ATPase (PMCA) and the plasma membrane Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX) are the two mechanisms responsible for Ca2+ extrusion. The NCX has low Ca2+ affinity but high capacity for Ca2+ transport, whereas the PMCA has a high Ca2+ affinity but low transport capacity for it. Thus, traditionally, the PMCA pump has been attributed a housekeeping role in maintaining cytosolic Ca2+, and the NCX the dynamic role of counteracting large cytosolic Ca2+ variations (especially in excitable cells). This view of the roles of the two Ca2+ extrusion systems has been recently revised, as the specific functional properties of the numerous PMCA isoforms and splicing variants suggests that they may have evolved to cover both the basal Ca2+ regulation (in the 100 nM range) and the Ca2+ transients generated by cell stimulation (in the mM range).