CALCIUM SIGNALING AND THE TRIGGERING OF SECRETION IN ADRENAL CHROMAFFIN CELLS

The pivotal intracellular message for triggering catecholamine release from bovine adrenal chromaffin cells is an elevation in the concentration of cytosolic free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i). Studies using video-imaging techniques have shown that a rise in [Ca2+]i at the cell periphery, that is due to Ca2+ entry, is the major activating signal for exocytosis. The cytoskeleton has been idendified as a major regulatory site of exocytosis, with Ca2+ -induced disruption of the cortical actin network being required in order that previously restrained granules may have access to their exocytotic sites. The Ca2+ - and phospholipid-dependent annexin protein, calpactin, has been strongly implicated in a late stage of interaction between granules and the plasma membrane by both ultrastructural and biochemical studies.