Blocking calcium entry may prevent normal and pathological cell proliferation. There is evidence suggesting that molecules such as carboxyamidotriazole, widely used in anti-cancer therapy based on its ability to block calcium entry in nonexcitable cells, also have antiproliferative properties. We found that carboxyamidotriazole and the capacitative calcium entry blocker 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate inhibited proliferation in HEK-293 cells with IC50 values of 1.6 and 50 μM, respectively. Capacitative calcium entry is activated as a result of intracellular calcium store depletion. However, non-capacitative calcium entry pathways exist that are independent of store depletion and are activated by arachidonic acid and diacylglycerol, generated subsequent to G protein coupled receptor stimulation. We found that carboxyamidotriazole completely inhibited the capacitative calcium entry and had no effect on the amplitude of arachidonic-acid-activated non-capacitative calcium entry. However, investigation of the effects of carboxyamidotriazole on mitochondrial calcium dynamics induced by carbachol, capacitative calcium entry and exogenously set calcium loads in intact and digitonin-permeabilized cells revealed that carboxyamidotriazole inhibited both calcium entry and mitochondrial calcium uptake in a time-dependent manner. Mitochondrial inner-membrane potential was altered by carboxyamidotriazole treatment, suggesting that carboxyamidotriazole antagonizes mitochondrial calcium import and thus local calcium clearance, which is crucial for the maintenance of capacitative calcium entry.

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The sequential-touching procedure is employed by researchers studying nonlinguistic categorization in toddlers. TouchStat 3.00 is introduced in this article as an adjunct to the sequential-touching procedure, allowing researchers to compare children's actual touching behavior to what might be expected by chance. Advantages over the Thomas and Dahlin (2000) framework include ease of use, and fewer assumptive limitations. Improvements over TouchStat 1.00 include calculation of chance probabilities for multiple "special cases" and for immediate intercategory alternations. A new feature for calculating mean run length is also included.