Although the importance of calcium (Ca²⁺) in the maintenance of cardiac contractility was recognized as early as 1880, the critical role of the ion in the contractile process in skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle has only been established within the last three decades.
As the complexity of the pharmacological actions of the Ca²⁺ channel inhibitors grows, there is a continued need to further clarify the inhibitors, both chemically and functionally.
This volume provides an update of the field based on the work presented at the 5th International Symposium on...

2 The free internal Ca+ concentration in human red cells is set according to the leak 2 and-pump principle: There is a finite passive Ca+ influx at the physiological 2 2 Ca+ -gradient across the membrane which is compensated by Ca+ pumping in the outward direction with a rate given by the degree of saturation of the A TP-fuelled Ca 2 pump at the steady-state internal Ca+ concentration. Simons (1982) recently devised a method allowing the measurement of the steady 2 2 state internal Ca+ concentration. Cells are suspended in media of different Ca+ con 2 2 tent whose Ca+ concentration is...