Ca+ ions and membrances!!!

[peacefulheart]

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In EK book, it says "Too much Ca'+ results in membranes becoming hypo-excitable producing lethargy. fatigue, and memory loss; too little produces cramps and convulsions."

Could anybody explain the mechanism that how Ca+ ions works in the membrances?

thanks

 

[Captain Sisko]

In EK book, it says "Too much Ca'+ results in membranes becoming hypo-excitable producing lethargy. fatigue, and memory loss; too little produces cramps and convulsions."

Could anybody explain the mechanism that how Ca+ ions works in the membrances?

thanks

I'm also interested in a concise explanation but until then I've Wikipedia.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_in_biology

 

[gabdolce]

From your mention of the symptoms of lethargy and slugishness, I can only assume you mean neuronal membranes.

With hypercalcemia, this partially depolarizes neuronal cells in the body. When you are at this partial depolarization, your Na channels (which have 3 possible configurations: open, closed, and inactivated) become inactivated i.e. unresponsive to further depolarizations until being converted from inactivated to closed by experiencing repolarization. Thus, depolarization in the form of sending action potentials becomes ironically more difficult (even though the actual gap in voltage between firing threshold and baseline is now smaller) which correlate to greater difficulty in sending signals to any of your musculature.