Abstract DBI-9807400 Luis F. Santana This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for 1998. This fellowship supports research and training in the area of animal physiology. The research and training plan is entitled regulation of arterial diameter by subcellular calcium release events. Local calcium release events ("calcium sparks") through ryanodine receptors in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of vascular smooth muscle indirectly cause arterial dilation by activating calcium- sensitive potassium (Kca) channels. Activation of Kca channels causes hyperpolarization, closing voltage-dependent calcium channels and thereby decreasing global cellular calcium, which causes vasodilation. The goal of this research is to examine how the SR protein phospholamban, by regulating SR calcium, modulates calcium sparks, membrane voltage and diameter of myogenic arteries.
