Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Flash-and-Freeze: A Novel Technique to Capture Membrane Dynamics with Electron Microscopy
Published on: May 1, 2017
Porocytosis: a transient pore array secretes the neurotransmitter packet
Mahlon E Kriebel1, Bruce Keller, Robert B Silver
1syntos@pullman.com
Abstract:
The porocytosis hypothesis is based on the arrayed nature of synaptic vesicles which forms the anatomical functional unit of secretion. The presynaptic array and the postsynaptic array of receptors form a synaptomere which is the unit of transmission. A transient increase in calcium ions, triggered by an action potential, activates all pores of the array to pulse transmitter. The array insures transmission while permitting a frequency dependent amount of secretion. Therefore the amount of secretion is variable which permits plasticity. Secretion from the array has the property of immediate synaptic plasticity whereas a change in array size would change synaptic strength. The robust nature of the array insures fidelity of transmission, a frequency dependent dynamic signature of transmission giving the property of immediate plasticity; and, a change in array size yields a change in synaptic strength for long term reliability.
Related Concept Videos
Fusion of Secretory Vesicles with the Plasma Membrane
In 1993, Jim Rothman proposed that the antiparallel pairing of vesicular and transmembrane SNAREs, or...
Pinocytosis
Pinocytosis ("cellular drinking") is one of three main types of endocytosis. In...
Pinocytosis
Exocytosis
Exocytosis
Exocytosis is the opposite of endocytosis, which brings molecules inside the cell. Sometimes, the released materials are signaling molecules. For example, neurons typically use exocytosis to release neurotransmitters. Cells also use exocytosis to insert proteins such as ion channels into their cell membranes, secrete proteins for use in the extracellular matrix, or...
Chemical Synapses
Because chemical synapses depend on the release of neurotransmitter molecules from synaptic vesicles to pass on their signal, there is an approximately one millisecond delay between when the axon potential reaches the presynaptic terminal and when the neurotransmitter leads to opening of postsynaptic ion channels. Additionally, this signaling is...

