Calcium Signaling

Intracellular calcium oscillation is a fundamental signaling response of musculoskeletal cells under mechanical stimulation. In contrast to neurons or cardiac muscle cells, chondrocytes are usually considered as nonexcitable cells with no spontaneous calcium signaling. We proved that chondrocytes can exhibit robust spontaneous calcium signaling without explicit external stimuli. The calcium peaks from each individual chondrocyte maintain a consistent spatiotemporal pattern, acting as a unique “fingerprint” for each cell. (Zhou et al., The FASEB Journal, 2019)

The spontaneous calcium peaks from each individual chondrocytes maintain a consistent profile, acting as a unique “fingerprint” for each cell.