Calcium Handling in Airway Smooth Muscle: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Implications

Calcium plays a central role in the activation of many cellular processes, including the most relevant end-point in airway smooth muscle physiology: contraction. For this reason, the cytosolic concentration of calcium is tightly controlled by an elaborate array of mechanisms. The latter include multiple entry pathways from the extracellular space, a pump on the membrane that extrudes calcium out of the cell, an internal pump that sequesters …