Calcium regulation has significant effects on the human body's ability to maintain homeostasis. About 99% of the body's calcium is found in the skeleton in the form of calcium salts. The remaining 1% is found in the blood and is controlled within a very narrow range by an elaborate system of controls to ensure fundamental processes (Marieb & Hoehn 2010). Calcium is the most abundant cation present in the human body, essential for the normal functioning of a multitude of processes, including: nerve excitability, hormone secretion, blood clotting, taste transduction, muscle function and l cell adhesion (Hutchins 2014). This essay will describe some of the most important roles of calcium metabolism. The essay will begin by explaining how calcium ensures bone growth and calcium stores, then discuss the importance of calcium in muscle contraction and provide a brief overview of the calcium signaling toolbox. The final section will then focus on chemical synapses. This trial will demonstrate that calcium regulation is a key element essential to human life. BoneCalcium (Ca+, Ca2+) is a mineral essential for the formation, growth and maintenance of healthy bones. Bone formation or osteogenesis is an essential process that begins before the eighth week in a human embryo and continues until approximately age 25 (Hill 2014). Bones or the skeleton not only protect the organs and support the body, but they also account for 99% of the body's total calcium and function as a reserve that can be released into the body when needed. Non-crystalline forms of bone salts combine with Ca2+Pi to instinctively form tiny hydroxyapatite crystals which then further catalyze the crystallization of calcium salts in that area. Calcium salts are deposited...... middle of paper ......521/Marieb, E & Hoehn, K. (2010). Human Anatomy and Physiology, (8th ed.). San Francisco: PearsonNoble, D and Hercheulz, A. (2007). Role of Na/Ca exchange and plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase in cellular function. Na/Ca Exchange Conference, Vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 228-232, accessed March 20, 2014, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1808037/Shane, E and Dinaz, I (2006). Hypercalcemia: Pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, differential diagnosis and management, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, accessed March 15, 2014, http://www.homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgatma/Anat3048/PAPERS %20etc/ASBMR%20Primer%20Ed%206/Ch%2026-41%20-%20Disorders%20of%20Serum%20Minerals.pdfTamarkin, D (2011). Synapses, Springfield Technical Community College, Massachusetts, accessed March 18, 2014, http://faculty.stcc.edu/AandP/AP/AP1pages/nervssys/unit11/synapses.htm