Ultra rapid calcium events in electrically stimulated frog nerve terminals

Fast calcium events occurring in cytoplasmic organelles after a single electrical stimulus were investigated by electron spectroscopic imaging (an electron microscope technique that reveals total calcium with high sensitivity and spatial resolution) in quick frozen presynaptic terminals of the frog neuromuscular junction. In resting preparations synaptic vesicles showed a prominent calcium signal whereas mitochondria were mostly negative and only some of the cisternae of the endoplasmic reticulum were clearly positive. In preparations quick frozen 10 ms after the application to the nerve of a single, supramaximal electric stimulus, no obvious change was observed in synaptic vesicles, while calcium levels rose to high values in the endoplasmic reticulum cisternae and in the matrix of mitochondria. Voltage-induced influx of Ca(2+) within synaptic terminals appears therefore to induce an extremely rapid uptake into selected organelles. The possible physiological role of this response is discussed.