Professor Colin Taylor

Intracellular signalling pathways

Regulated changes in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration are the principal means by which contraction of vascular smooth muscle is controlled, and drugs that target Ca2+ signalling pathways are widely used to treat hypertension. Other signalling pathways, notably those regulated by cyclic AMP, modulate the responses of vascular smooth to contractile stimuli by both regulating Ca2+ signals and the effects they have on contractile proteins.

Building on our interests in IP3 receptors, which are the most widely expressed intracellular Ca2+ channels, we are examining the interplay between cAMP and Ca2+ in human aortic smooth muscle cells by examining responses to receptors that evoke IP3 and cAMP formation. A major aim is to understand how these diffusible messengers are delivered from receptors in the plasma membrane to their intracellular targets.