The metabolism of phosphatidylinositol lipids and its importance in signalling

The discovery that phosphate was rapidly incorporated into the phosphatidylinositol lipid pool was accidental. A furious argument subsequently raged as to the importance of PI metabolism to calcium signalling. It is now well established not only that PI metabolism is crucially important to calcium signalling but also to PKC and a host of other pathways.
PI metabolism is thought to be the target of at least three different types of mood-stabilizing drugs, carbamazepine, lithium and valproic acid (Williams et al, 2002)

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