Marhl, Haberichter, Brumen, Heinrich, 2000

Model Status

This is the original unchecked version of the model imported from the previous CellML model repository, 24-Jan-2006.

Model Structure

Calcium oscillations play a vital role in intracellular signalling in several different cell types. Since they were discovered in the 1980s, many experimental works and theoretical studies explaining the mechanisms underlying these oscillations have been published (for example see The Li and Rinzel Model, 1994). It is generally agreed that the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) represents the main calcium store in the cell, but more recently it has been recognised that the mitochondria also play an important role in intracellular calcium signalling.

In their 2000 model, Marko Marhl, Thomas Haberichter, Milan Brumen and Reinhart Heinrich provided a new possible explanation of complex intracellular calcium oscillations based on calcium exchange between different calcium stores in the cell (see the figure below). In addition to the ER, representing the main Ca2+ store in the cell, they also consider Ca2+ sequestration in mitochondria and the Ca2+ binding to cytosolic proteins. They show how complex intracellular calcium oscillations can be explained by the specific Ca2+ kinetics of the three intracellular stores: the ER, mitochondria and the cytosolic Ca2+ binding proteins. Their model produces simple calcium oscillations, bursting and chaos. Their mathematical model has been translated into a CellML description which can be downloaded in various formats as described in .

The complete original paper reference is cited below:

Complex calcium oscillations and the role of mitochondria and cytosolic proteins, Marko Marhl, Thomas Haberichter, Milan Brumen and Reinhart Heinrich, 2000, Biosystems , 57, 75-86. (A PDF version of the article is available for Journal Members on the Science Direct website.) PubMed ID: 11004387

Schematic presentation of the model sysytem.