CACNA2D4 antibody

Background of CACNA2D4 antibody

Voltage-gated Ca2+ (CaV) channels are ubiquitously expressed and function as Ca2+ conducting pores in the plasma membrane. Based on their electrophysiological and pharmacological properties, Ca2+ channels have traditiolly been classified into L, T, N, P, Q, and R types. L-type calcium channels are heteromultimers composed of four independently encoded proteins, the pore-forming a1 subunit, which triggers Ca2+ flow across the membrane, and the auxiliary subunits a2d, ?, and Ã?. The Ca2+ channel a2d subunit is a heavily glycosylated protein that is encoded by a single gene and post-translatiolly cleaved to yield a2 and d subunits linked by a disulfide bond with a single transmembrane segment.The a2d subunit regulates many functiol aspects of Ca2+ channels, such as gating, regulating voltage dependent kinetics, and increasing functiol channel density on the plasma membrane. There are four proteins that comprise CaVa2d: CaVa2d1, CaVa2d2, CaVa2d3 and CaVa2d4. CaVa2d4 participates in the regulation of membrane expression of CaV channels. It is predomintly expressed in certain types of endocrine cells. It is also detected in the erythroblasts in the fetal liver, in the cells of the zo reticularis of the adrel gland and in the basophiles of the pituitary. Defects in CaVa2d4 are the cause of retil cone dystrophy 4 (RCD4). RCD4 is characterized by minimal symptoms except for slowly progressive reduction in visual acuity.