IDENTIFYING NEURONAL NON-L CA2- MORE THAN STAMP COLLECTING( CHANNELS )

The pharmacology of the majority of Ca2+ channels in the nervous syste m is very limited. Although attempts have been made to constrain nativ e Ca2+ channels into the framework provided by the six pore-forming mo lecules cloned to date, refined biophysical analysis of Ca2+ currents, expression techniques and the use of selective toxins have helped to identify unambiguously only a limited number of Ca2+ channels. In fa c t, many native Ca2+ channel activities remain as 'orphans', waiting fo r their molecular counterparts to be defined. In this article, Janet N ooney, Regis Lambert and Anne Feltz systematically delineate the well characterized non-L Ca2+ channel activities and the missing elements i n our knowledge of the Ca2+ channel family.