Roles of external noise correlation in optimal intracellular calcium signaling

The dynamics of a minimal calcium model, which is subjected to white noise or colored noise, was investigated. For white noise, coherence of noise-induced calcium oscillations reached a maximum at an optimal noise intensity, characterizing coherence resonance. Higher resonance peaks could be observed at lower noise intensity when a control parameter is tuned to approach a bifurcation point. For colored noise, a maximal coherence of the oscillations was found for suitable values of both the intensity and the correlation time. Moreover, the coherence of the oscillations exhibited two maxima at two values of noise intensity (correlation time) for appropriate noise correlation time (intensity). In addition, a quantitative description of the effects of noise correlation time on the resonance behavior was presented. The resonance behavior, which is induced either by white noise or colored noise, was interpreted by terms of height and relative width of a spectral peak. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.