Calcium Signaling in Hypertension: A Focus on Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

Abstract

The importance of calcium in regulating vascular tone has been understood for many years, and has made calcium the focus of many researchers studying hypertension. The recent advances in techniques to assess cytosolic free Ca2+ in living cells using fluorescence, and advances in molecular biology techniques have expanded our understanding of Ca2+ regulation. In this review we provide a brief overview of calcium regulation in vascular smooth muscle and focus on the regulation of calcium in hypertension. We pay particular attention to studies in animal models of hypertension and studies examining active transporters of calcium in vascular smooth muscle.