Independent modes of propagation of calcium waves in smooth muscle cells

The purinergic agonist adenosine triphosphate (ATP) stimulates an initial transient followed by subsequent oscillations in cytosolic calcium ion concentration ([Ca2+]i) in individual porcine aortic smooth muscle cells. Using microinjection of fura-2 covalently coupled to dextran, we have analyzed in detail the spatial and temporal features of the oscillations. We have observed both cytoplasmic calcium waves and gradients within single cells. Single cells can contain multiple loci of initiation of oscillations. Independent oscillations in a single cell can have independent frequencies and these oscillations can propagate without interference across the same region of the cell, suggesting that they arise either from separately regulated stores of Ca2+ or a single Ca2+ store operated by two separate release mechanisms. The shape of the wave front and the manner of the waye's decay can vary from one oscillation to the next. Ca2+ signaling in individual arterial smooth muscle cells thus displays complex spatial and temporal organization.