Outside and in: development of neuronal excitability

Investigation of the development of excitability has revealed that cells are often specialized at early stages to generate Ca2+ transients. Studies of excitability have converged on the central role of Ca2+ and K+ channels in the plasmalemma that regulate Ca2+ influx and have identified critical functions for receptor-activated channels in the endoplasmic reticulum that allow efflux of Ca2+ from intracellular stores. The parallels between excitability in these two locations motivate future work, because comparison of their properties identifies shared attributes.