hypocalcemia tetany

[scott boston]

Any idea how this works?  Does Ca bind to the voltage-gated Na channels
and somehow alter their threshold, or is it a simple electro-chemical
gradient problem, or is Ca working through a more novel system?  Or does
low Ca somehow make the neuron's plasma membrane leaky to Na ions?

c_hou at humc.edu wrote:
> According to Guyton's Medical Physiology, hypoccemia increases sodiumum
> permeability which then decreases the neuron's excitation threshold or increase
> the excitablity of neuron units.