What is the Role of Calcium in Muscle Contraction?
In muscle cells, calcium signaling is crucial for muscle contraction. When a muscle cell is stimulated, Ca2+ is released from the sarcoplasmic reticulum into the cytoplasm. This increase in Ca2+ binds to troponin, which causes a conformational change in tropomyosin, exposing the binding sites on actin filaments for myosin heads, leading to muscle contraction.
