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Minimal Model for Intracellular Calcium Oscillations and Electrical Bursting in Melanotrope Cells of Xenopus Laevis

Department of Cellular Animal Physiology and Department of Biophysics, Nijmegen Institute for Neurosciences, University of Nijmegen, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Wim J. J. M. Scheenen

Department of Cellular Animal Physiology, Nijmegen Institute for Neurosciences, University of Nijmegen, 6525 E Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Werner J. H. Koopman

Department of Cellular Animal Physiology, Nijmegen Institute for Neurosciences, University of Nijmegen, 6525 E Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Eric W. Roubos

Department of Cellular Animal Physiology, Nijmegen Institute for Neurosciences, University of Nijmegen, 6525 E Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Stan C. A. M. Gielen

Department of Biophysics, Nijmegen Institute for Neurosciences, University of Nijmegen, 6525 EZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands

A minimal model is presented to explain changes in frequency, shape, and amplitude of Ca²⁺ oscillations in the neuroendocrine melanotrope cell of Xenopus Laevis. It describes the cell as a plasma membrane oscillator with influx of extracellular Ca²⁺ via voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channels in the plasma membrane. The Ca²⁺ oscillations in the Xenopus melanotrope show specific features that cannot be explained by previous models for electrically bursting cells using one set of parameters. The model assumes a K_Ca-channel with slow Ca²⁺-dependent gating kinetics that initiates and terminates the bursts. The slow kinetics of this channel cause an activation of the K_Ca-channel with a phase shift relative to the intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration. The phase shift, together with the presence of a Na⁺ channel that has a lower threshold than the Ca²⁺ channel, generate the characteristic features of the Ca²⁺ oscillations in the Xenopus melanotrope cell.

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