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Control of osteoclast movement by K⁺_Ca channels

Numerous cellular processes are controlled by cytosolic Ca²⁺ ions. Cell movement is no exception: Ca²⁺ regulates cytoskeletal reorganization and cell-matrix interactions necessary for cell migration, and opening of stretch-activated Ca²⁺ channels during membrane extension plays an important role in this process. Chantal Chenu and co-workers now reveal that channels that modulate the levels of another cation, K⁺, can also control cell movement (see p. 3387). They have combined time-lapse video microscopy with patch clamping to examine ion currents across the cell membrane during spreading of osteoclasts — the multinucleated cells responsible for bone resorption. The authors find that osteoclast spreading correlates with oscillations in a spontaneous K⁺ current across the plasma membrane. The current is Ca²⁺ dependent and can be blocked by the venom toxins charybdotoxin and apamin, which indicates that Ca²⁺-dependent K⁺ (K⁺_Ca) channels are involved. Furthermore, Chenu and co-workers demonstrate that blocking the current decreases both osteoclast spreading and bone resorption; they therefore conclude that it has an important physiological role.

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Osteoclast spreading kinetics are correlated with an oscillatory activation of a calcium-dependent potassium current

Leon Espinosa, Laurent Paret, Carlos Ojeda, Yves Tourneur, Pierre D. Delmas, and Chantal Chenu
JCS 2002 115: 3837-3848. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content