Calcium is the fifth most common element on Earth, the third most abundant element of vegetation and the most abundant metallic element of the human body. It acts at intercellular, extracellular and intracellular sites; it can modulate the excitability of cellular surface membranes and the transport of material along nerve fibres; it can strengthen the mechanical properties of a tissue and stabilize enzymes; it acts as a liaison between excitation and muscular contraction and also between excitation and secretion; it plays a role in fertilization and in mitosis. These diverse functions of calcium that occur in organisms at all levels of the phylogenetic scale, suggest that calcium acts as an integrative factor in biological functions.
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