Calcium signaling and the control of dendritic development.

Dendrites serve a critical role in neuronal information processing as sites of synaptic integration. The morphological diversity of dendritic architecture reflects specialized strategies that neurons have evolved to detect and process incoming information. Recent observations suggest that calcium signals exert an important influence on neuronal morphology by regulating the growth and branching of dendrites and the formation of dendritic spines. Calcium signals appear to influence branch dynamics by affecting the cytoskeleton near the site of calcium entry, whereas calcium-dependent dendritic growth involves activation of a transcriptional program.