Calcium-induced calcium release Calcium-induced calcium release Calcium-induced calcium release (CICR) describes a biological process whereby calcium is able to activate calcium release from intracellular Ca stores (e.g., endoplasmic reticulum or sarcoplasmic reticulum). Although CICR was first proposed for skeletal muscle in the 1970s, it is now known that CICR is unlikely to be its primary mechanism for activating SR calcium release. Instead, CICR is thought to be crucial for excitation-contraction coupling in cardiac muscle and it is now obvious that CICR is a widely occurring cellular signaling process present even in many non-muscle cells, e.g. in the insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cells and many
Calcium hexaboride Calcium hexaboride Calcium hexaboride (sometimes calcium boride) is a compound of calcium and boron with the chemical formula CaB. It is an important material due to its high electrical conductivity, hardness, chemical stability, and melting point. It is a black, lustrous, chemically inert powder with a low density. It has the cubic structure typical for metal hexaborides, with octahedral units of 6 boron atoms combined with calcium atoms. CaB and lanthanum-doped CaB both show weak ferromagnetic properties, which is a remarkable fact because calcium and boron are neither magnetic, nor have inner 3d or 4f electronic shells, which are usually