John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY (USA), 1995, vol. 188, 291 pp.

This book features studies of intracellular Ca super(2+) gradients, oscillations and waves in various systems. Calcium gradients are best understood in tip-growing plants cells, medaka (fish) eggs and the mould Dictyostelium. Current knowledge of the initiation, propagation, characteristics, functional consequences and physiological significance of Ca super(2+) oscillations and waves in heptocytes, in Cl super(-) secretion from pancreatic acinar cells, in heart muscle cells and in neurons is presented. The mechanisms, form and importance of Ca super(2+) waves in Xenopus oocytes and in mammalian fertilization are considered. The biochemical basis of Ca super(2+) signals can spread as waves from cell to cell, through the action of a secreted intermediate (ATP) or by diffusion of InsP sub(3) or perhaps Ca super(2+), across gap junctions; studies of this process in epithelial cells and glial cells are featured.