Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
Physiology and Biophysics
Signal Transduction
Excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal and cardiac muscleThe overall goals of the research in Dr. García's laboratory are to determine the role of calcium channels in signal transduction in striated muscle and to elucidate how calcium regulates gene expression during cardiac cell growth. High voltage activated calcium channel are formed by different subunits. We recently found that the a2/d1 subunit is important for interactions of muscle cells with the extracellular matrix, which represents a new role for this protein independent from its interactions with other channel subunits. Ongoing research is investigating the role of extracellular domains of the a2/d1 subunit as a chemical sensor and its transcriptional regulation during development and muscle repair. We have also found that the intracellular calcium release channel, IP3R, is present in the nucleus of cardiac myocytes where it modulates gene expression. We are investigating the regulation of IP3R and its effects on nuclear calcium concentrations and gene expression during development and hypertrophy
Representative Publications:
Alden, K.J. & García, J. (2001). Differential effect of gabapentin on neuronal and muscle calcium currents. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 297:727-735.
Simeoni, I., Rossi, D., Zhu, X., García, J., Valdivia,
H.H., & Sorrentino, V. (2001). Imperatoxin A (IpTxa) from
Pandinus imperator stimulates [3H]ryanodine binding to RyR3 channels. FEBS Letters.
508:5-10.
Alden, K.J., Goldspink, P.H., Ruch, S., Buttrick, P.M., & García,
J. (2002). Enhancement of L-type Ca2+ current from
neonatal mouse ventricular myocytes by constitutively active PKC-II. American
Journal of Physiology Cell Physiology. 10.1152/ajpcell.00494.2001.
Nabhani, T., Zhu, X., Simeoni, I., Sorrentino, V., Valdivia, H.H., &
García, J. (2002). Imperatoxin A enhances
Ca2+ release in developing skeletal muscle containing ryanodine receptor type
3. Biophysical Journal.82:1319-1328.
Motlagh, D., Alden, K.J., Russell, B., & García, J. (2002). Sodium current modulation by a tubulin/GTP coupled process in
neonatal cardiac myocytes. Journal of Physiology (London). 540.1:93-103.
Alden, K.J. & García, J. (2002). Dissociation of charge movement from calcium release and calcium current in skeletal myotubes by gabapentin. American Journal of Physiology Cell Physiology. 283:C941-C949.
García, K. D., Shah, T. & García, J. (2004). Immunolocalization of Type 2 Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate Receptors in Cardiac Myocytes from Newborn Mice. American Journal of Physiology Cell Physiology. 287:C1048-C1057.
Nabhani, T., Shah, T. & García, J. (2005). Skeletal Muscle Cells Express Different Isoforms of the Calcium Channel alpha2/delta Subunit. Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics. 42:13-20.
Zhou, J., Yi, J., Royer, L., Launikonis, B., Gonzalez, A., García, J. & Ríos, E. (2006). A probable role of dhyhidropyridine receptors in repression of Ca 2+ sparks, demonstrated in cultured mammalian muscle. American Journal of Physiology Cell Physiology . 290 :C539-C553.
Goldspink, P., Ruch, S., Los, T., Buttrick, P. & García, J. (2007). Maladaptation of Calcium Homeostasis in Aging Cardiac Myocytes. Pflügers Archiv – European Journal of Physiology . DOI: 10.1007/s00424-007-0420-2.
García, K., Nabhani, T. & García, J. (2008). The Calcium Channel a2/d1 Subunit is Involved in Extracellular Signaling. Journal of Physiology ( London ). 586.3 :727-738.
Send messages to garmar@uic.edu
04/17/08