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Updated: Aug 1, 2026
08:10
Examination of Synaptic Vesicle Recycling Using FM Dyes During Evoked, Spontaneous, and Miniature Synaptic Activities
Published on: March 31, 2014
Exocytosis and its control at the synapse.
1Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle 98195.
Current Opinion in Neurobiology
|June 1, 1992
Summary
New research reveals that presynaptic active zones contain voltage-gated calcium channels crucial for exocytosis. Studies using voltammetry show these channels control transmitter release from single vesicles.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cell Biology
- Biophysics
Background:
- Exocytosis is a fundamental process for neurotransmitter release.
- Understanding the molecular mechanisms of exocytosis is key to neuroscience.
- Presynaptic active zones are critical sites for synaptic vesicle release.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the molecular components and control mechanisms of exocytosis.
- To identify the role of intramembrane particles at presynaptic active zones.
- To elucidate the process of transmitter release from single synaptic vesicles.
Main Methods:
- Electrophysiological recordings to study channel function.
- Morphological studies to analyze active zone structure.
- Voltammetry with high sensitivity and time resolution to track vesicle release.
Main Results:
- Intramembrane particles at presynaptic active zones are identified as voltage-gated calcium channels.
- Voltammetry enables detailed study of single vesicle transmitter release kinetics.
- Interactions between cell surface and synaptic vesicle membrane proteins are observed, potentially forming the fusion pore.
Conclusions:
- Voltage-gated calcium channels are central to exocytosis control at presynaptic active zones.
- Advanced techniques like voltammetry provide unprecedented insight into synaptic transmission.
- Membrane protein interactions are critical for the formation of the fusion pore complex during exocytosis.
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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...
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01:26Fusion of Secretory Vesicles with the Plasma Membrane
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Chemical synapses are specialized sites between two neurons or between a neuron and a non-neuronal cell like a muscle, glandular or sensory cell.
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...
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