Spatio-temporal regulation of neurotransmitter release by PKC; studies in adrenal chromaffin cells

Activation of protein kinase C (PKC) seems to promote vesicle recruitment to the release-ready state prior to Ca2+ -triggered fusion in chromaffin cells. To understand spatio-temporal regulation of vesicle recruitment by PKC, we studied the effects of a phorbol ester, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), on the vesicle movements in living chromaffin cells by imaging with a fluorescence microscope-cooled CCD system. About 60 approximately 80% of the chromaffin vesicles showed a rapid movement, about 20% showed a moderate movement, and the rest showed slow/no movement in resting and post-stimulation. The vesicles with slow/no movement increased to 40% upon a depolarizing stimulation, and TPA increased this population to about 70%. TPA treatment, in addition, increased the number of visible chromaffin vesicles beneath the plasma membrane, suggesting that the potentiation of vesicle recruitment by PKC involves a substantial increase in the subplasmalemmal distribution of vesicles.