Abstract
In 1965, it was thought that acetylcholine (ACh) activates an electrogenic Cl− pump in the basal acinar membrane, but in the late 1960s it was shown that ACh opens a K+ pathway1. In the 1970s, Akinori Nishiyama2 and Noriyuki Iwatsuki3, characterized properly the salivary and pancreatic acinar cell membranes and intracellular Ca2+ injection was shown to mimick the action of external ACh3. Yoshio Maruyama's pioneering patch clamp work in the early 1980s, resulted in a molecular characterization of the conductance pathways and quantification of the K+ channels4, 5. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Makoto Wakui and Yuri Osipchuk defined the principal mechanisms of the ACh- and inositol trisphosphate- elicited cytosolic Ca2+ spiking in the acinar apical pole6. The intracellular Ca2+ tunnel was discovered by Hideo Mogami7 and directly visualized by Myoung Kyu Park8. Hanna Tinel discovered the perigranular mitochondrial belt9 and Jose Cancela showed the action of new Ca2+ releasing messengers10. The nuclear Ca2+ pool was characterized by the Gerasimenkos11 and their latest data show two intracellular pools. 1. Petersen OH J Physiol 208, 431-447, 1970 2. Nishiyama A & Petersen OH J Physiol 244, 431-465, 1975 3. Iwatsuki N & Petersen OH Nature 268, 147-149, 1977 4. Maruyama Y & Petersen OH Nature 300, 61-63, 1982 5. Petersen OH & Maruyama Y Nature 307, 693-696, 1984 6. Wakui M et al Cell 63, 1025-1032, 1990 7. Mogami H et al Cell 88, 49-55, 1997 8. Petersen et al TINS 24, 271-276, 2001 9. Tinel H et al EMBO J 18, 4999-5008, 1999 10. Cancela J et al EMBO J 21, 909-919, 2002 11. Gerasimenko J et al J Cell Biol 163, 271-282, 2003 [Jpn J Physiol 55 Suppl:S2 (2005)]
