Calcium control of exocytosis in bovine adrenal medullary cells

The past few years have witnessed important advances in our understanding. of the mechanism and control of catecholamine release, largely through the application to adrenal medullary cells of a number of powerful new techniques. Fluorescent dyes have revealed that intracellular Ca 2+ rises during secretion, the patch clamp has permitted the ion channels that control these changes in Ca 2+ to be characterized, and high-voltage permeabilization has made possible a direct attack on the problem of how a rise in Ca 2+ initiates the exocytotic event.