# Functional characterization of the store-operated calcium entry pathway in naked mole-rat cells

## TL;DR

This study is the first to investigate how a key calcium entry pathway works in naked mole-rat cells, which may explain their resistance to age-related diseases.

## Contribution

The first functional and pharmacological characterization of store-operated calcium entry in naked mole-rats.

## Key findings

- SOCE was functionally active in both excitable and non-excitable NMR cells.
- Pharmacological tools confirmed the presence of a Stim-Orai-like mechanism in NMR cells.
- The findings suggest SOCE may contribute to the NMR's disease resistance.

## Abstract

Naked mole-rats (NMRs, Heterocephalus glaber) are highly unusual rodents exhibiting remarkable adaptations to their subterranean habitat and resistance to developing various age-related diseases such as those related to abnormal cell proliferation or cancer, neurodegeneration and inflammation. In other rodents, as well as humans, a ubiquitous Ca2+ influx pathway, namely the store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE), has been implicated in all these diseases. SOCE is triggered by intracellular Ca2+ store depletion resulting in interaction of Stim proteins with Orai proteins, the putative homologues of which appear to be present in the NMR genome, but no functional characterization of SOCE in NMRs has yet been conducted. In this study, we provide the first functional and pharmacological characterization of SOCE in NMR using both excitable and non-excitable cells.