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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Methods for Cell-attached Capacitance Measurements in Mouse Adrenal Chromaffin Cell
Published on: October 22, 2014
Colocalization of calcium entry and exocytotic release sites in adrenal chromaffin cells
I M Robinson1, J M Finnegan, J R Monck
1Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Abstract:
"Snapshot" images of localized Ca2+ influx into patch-clamped chromaffin cells were captured by using a recently developed pulsed-laser imaging system. Transient opening of voltage-sensitive Ca2+ channels gave rise to localized elevations of Ca2+ that had the appearance of either "hotspots" or partial rings found immediately beneath the plasma membrane. When the Ca2+ imaging technique was employed in conjunction with flame-etched carbon-fiber electrodes to spatially map the release sites of catecholamines, it was observed that the sites of Ca2+ entry and catecholamine release were colocalized. These results provide functional support for the idea that secretion occurs from "active zone"-like structures in neuroendocrine cells.
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