Secretions Key to Health, and Calcium Key to Their Function

Secretions Key to Health, and Calcium Key to Their Function

Bodily secretions help keep the human body fully functional. And according to a new study, calcium—which is present in all bodily cells—is a gatekeeper of this activity. An increase in calcium within cells, researchers says, opens the “gates” for production and secretion of vital bodily fluids, such as saliva secreted from the salivary gland and digestive juices secreted by the pancreas. Data explaining the process of secretions—which have, until now, remained a mystery—were published in the paper “Defining the Stoichiometry of Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate Binding Required to Initiate Ca2+ Release” in the April issue of Science Signaling. 

The study’s lead researcher, David I. Yule, PhD—a professor in the department of Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry—has studied calcium for the past 15 years. His findings have made clear that when calcium doesn’t increase inside cells, the so-called gates do not open. This closed-off channel results in problems such as Sjögren syndrome, as well as trouble chewing, swallowing, and speaking. He’s also studied calcium’s role in other disorders in which calcium and secretions are disrupted. Yule and other scientists have pinpointed a protein, IP3 receptor, as vital to increasing calcium within cells to allow cell gates to remain open.

Building off Yule’s research, and using advanced molecular engineering and gene editing techniques, the research team discovered that each gate must be activated for calcium to increase and processes, such as fluid secretion, to fully function. With a long-time mystery now solved, researchers believe this finding will have great implications not only for how calcium is controlled within cells, but also for understanding various disorders that pertain to bodily secretion. Ongoing research is planned to investigate how other diseases affecting the IP3 protein result in brain and immune system disorders. 

Hygiene Connection E-Newsletter

April 2016