1. Channeling Vision: CaV1.4—A Critical Link in Retinal Signal Transmission
- Author
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N. T. Bech-Hansen, William K. Stell, and Derek Waldner
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,genetic structures ,Calcium Channels, L-Type ,lcsh:Medicine ,Review Article ,Neurotransmission ,Biology ,Synaptic Transmission ,Synaptic vesicle ,Retinal ganglion ,Retina ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Exocytosis ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,0302 clinical medicine ,Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Secretion ,Vision, Ocular ,General Immunology and Microbiology ,Voltage-dependent calcium channel ,lcsh:R ,Retinal ,General Medicine ,030104 developmental biology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,chemistry ,Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells ,sense organs ,Neuroscience ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCC) are key to many biological functions. Entry of Ca2+into cells is essential for initiating or modulating important processes such as secretion, cell motility, and gene transcription. In the retina and other neural tissues, one of the major roles of Ca2+-entry is to stimulate or regulate exocytosis of synaptic vesicles, without which synaptic transmission is impaired. This review will address the special properties of one L-type VGCC,CaV1.4, with particular emphasis on its role in transmission of visual signals from rod and cone photoreceptors (hereafter called “photoreceptors,” to the exclusion of intrinsically photoreceptive retinal ganglion cells) to the second-order retinal neurons, and the pathological effects of mutations in theCACNA1Fgene which codes for the pore-formingα1Fsubunit ofCaV1.4.
- Published
- 2018