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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Monitoring the Effect of Osmotic Stress on Secretory Vesicles and Exocytosis
Published on: February 19, 2018
Enhancement of secretion by threshold nicotinic stimulation in bovine chromaffin cells
Laura Tapia1, Josefina García Eguiagaray, Javier Egea
1Instituto Teöfilo Hernando, Departamento de Farmacología y Terapéutica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autönoma de Madrid, 28029 Madrid, Spain. laura.tapia@uam.es
Abstract:
Synaptic release of neurotransmitters displays activity-dependent changes such as enhancement (facilitation, augmentation, or potentiation) or diminution (depression), which have been studied widely because of their implication in synaptic efficacy, neuronal plasticity, and formation and consolidation of learning and memory. Some of these types of modulation of secretion displayed by neurons are also present in neuroendocrine chromaffin cells, for instance, facilitation or augmentation, which seem to be related to mild changes in the transients of cytosolic concentration of calcium ([Ca2+]i) and the degree of refilling of the primed vesicle pool (Zucker, 1996; Neher, 1998). Desensitized nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) and their possible role in this short-term synaptic plasticity was investigated in populations of bovine chromaffin cells.
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