Modeling of simulation-secretion coupling in a chromaffin cell

Model Status

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

Model Structure

Adrenal chromaffin cells have been used extensively for studying the mechanisms involved in stimulation-secretion coupling, namely electrophysiological progesses, signal transduction pathways, calcium homeostasis, and exocytotic processes. However, despite the accululation of large quantities of experimental data, a clear understanding of how these processes interact is lacking. In the Warashina and Ogura 2004 publication described here, the authors present a mathematical model which describes a chromaffin cell (see the figure below). This model is able to simulate the cell's secretory responses, including the process of stimulation-secretion coupling.

The complete original paper reference is cited below:

Modeling of stimulation-secretion coupling in a chromaffin cell, A. Warashina and T. Ogura, 2004, European Journal of Physiology , 448, 369-391. (A Full text (HTML) and PDF versions of the article are available to subscribers on the European Journal of Physiology website. PubMed ID: 14730449

The model chromaffin cell includes mechanisms involved in the excitatory synapse, Hodgkin-Huxley type Na+ and K+ channels, volatage-dependent Ca2+ channels, Ca2+-dependent K+ channels, Ca2+ extrusion, buffered diffusion of intracellular Ca2+, Ca2+ indication with a fluorescent dye, and Ca2+-triggered secretion.

Model simulations were carried out using the NEURON simulation environment. The simulations were able to reproduce several of the experimental results reported in the literature.