Mammalian cells require extracellular calcium ion to undergo rapid plasma membrane
repair seconds after mechanical damage. Utilizing transformed fibroblasts from calpain
small subunit knock-out (Capns1-/-) mouse embryos, we now show that the heterodimeric,
typical subclass of calpains is required for calcium-mediated survival after plasma
membrane damage caused by scraping a cell monolayer. Survival of scrape-damaged
Capns1-/-cells was unaffected by calcium in the scraping medium, whereas more …