Calcium ion in skeletal muscle: its crucial role for muscle function, plasticity, and disease.

Abstract in brief

• Mammalian skeletal muscle exhibits a high degree of variability in its functional properties, such as force production and fatigue resistance, and displays significant plasticity allowing it to adapt in response to stimuli like growth factors, hormones, nerve signals, or exercise.
• Calcium ions (Ca2+) are essential for muscle function, acting as primary signaling molecules that regulate contraction and relaxation through a complex apparatus involving proteins like the ryanodine receptor, troponin complex, Ca2+ pumps, and storage proteins like calsequestrin.
• The diversity and regulation of Ca2+-handling proteins and Ca2+-binding proteins in muscle tissue influence the contractile behavior and plasticity of muscle fibers, impacting their ability to adapt and respond to different physiological and pathological conditions.]