Correlated Variations in the Parameters That Regulate Dendritic Calcium Signaling in Mouse Retinal Ganglion Cells

The amplitude and time course of stimulus-evoked second messenger signals carried by intracellular changes in free calcium ([Ca](free)) depend on the total influx of Ca2+, the fraction bound to endogenous buffer and the rate of extrusion. Estimates of the values of these three parameters in proximal dendrites of 15 mouse alpha retinal ganglion cells were made using the added buffer method and found to vary greatly from one experiment to the next. The variations in the measured parameters were strongly correlated across the sample of cells. This reduced the variability in the amplitude and time course of the dendritic Ca2+ signal and suggests that the expression of Ca2+ channels, binding proteins and extrusion mechanisms is homeostatically coordinated to maintain the amplitude and kinetics of the Ca2+ signal within a physiologically appropriate range.