Mechanically induced calcium waves and the effect of CBX. (A) Mechanically induced calcium waves were induced with a sharp tungsten probe controlled by a piezoelectric device that briefly poked the connective, as shown in Fig. 8 A and described in Materials and methods. A 40-V piezoelectric touch was given after 7 s of recording to initiate the calcium wave in the Calcium Green 1–filled connective glial cell. Changes in calcium in three 25-µm² regions located at 20 µm intervals were measured and included in the graphs. The calcium response was calculated as the change in fluorescence divided by the resting fluorescence (ΔF/F). The representative time courses of mechanically induced calcium responses in a connective glial cell with and without CBX were not distinguishable. Arrows indicate onset of the 200-msec stimulus. (B) The peak calcium responses during mechanically induced calcium waves in connective glial cells were not altered by CBX. Bars represent the average maximum fluorescence intensities in a 25-µm² region at the initiation site of the calcium wave induced by a mechanical stimulus and are statistically indistinguishable. Mechanically induced calcium waves were induced with a sharp tungsten probe controlled by a piezoelectric device. The stimulus was a 40-V pulse, which produced an ∼50-µm displacement of the probe (n = 4). (C) Propagation speed of the calcium wave did not change in 10 µM CBX. These measurements were made for the same calcium waves as used in B. Five 25-µm² regions located at 20-µm intervals from the stimulus (“poke”) site were used. At each region, the time to reach the half-maximum response after the stimulus, averaged for five responses, was determined. The distance of each region to the site of stimulation divided by the times to half peak from several adjacent regions was averaged to give the speed of propagation, as shown in the inset. There was no significant difference between the control and CBX conditions for the speeds (n = 4).