ABSTRACT
Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. 43
References............................................................................................................... 43
Researchers have been using fluorescent calcium indicators to study the regulation
of intracellular calcium for over two decades. Over this time, there has also been the
pursuit of ever better temporal and spatial resolution. Indeed, where once the aim of
measurements was to determine the average calcium concentration in a suspension
of cells over a period of minutes, the focus has now shifted to detecting subcellular
calcium sparks and microdomains with dimensions measured in microns (or even
nanometers) and durations measured in milliseconds [1-7]. These advances have
been possible because of improvements in technology on a number of different
fronts, including improved imaging devices, innovations in microscopy, and the
development of new calcium indicators.
