Calcium3D: a visual software package for the simulation of calcium buffered diffusion in neuroendocrine cells

Software for simulating calcium-triggered exocytotic processes

We describe a software package for the simulation of exocytotic events from readily releasable pools of secretory vesicles in neuroendocrine cells and presynaptic terminals. The visual package Ca3D_Exolab simulates the entry of Ca(2+) through the calcium channels, the kinetic reactions of calcium with buffers, the diffusion of calcium and mobile buffers, and the kinetic reactions of calcium with the secretory vesicles. The location of both channels and secretory vesicles can be set by using a graphical interface. Calcium and buffer concentrations at different depths from the cellular membrane and capacitance time courses are obtained as outputs. The software package also provides a descriptive statistical data analysis of the different output data.