scholarly journals Retrieval and recycling of synaptic vesicle membrane in pinched-off nerve terminals (synaptosomes).

1978 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 685-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
R C Fried ◽  
M P Blaustein
Keyword(s):  
Synaptic Vesicle ◽  
Synaptic Vesicles ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Large Diameter ◽  
Small Diameter ◽  
Physiological Saline ◽  
Nerve Terminals ◽  
Vesicle Membrane ◽  
Thorium Dioxide ◽  
Vesicular Exocytosis

The morphological features of pinched-off presynaptic nerve terminals (synaptosomes) from rat brain were examined with electron microscope techniques; in many experiments, an extracellular marked (horseradish peroxidase or colloidal thorium dioxide) was included in the incubation media. When incubated in physiological saline, most terminals appeared approximately spherical, and were filled with small (approximately 400-A diameter) "synaptic vesicles"; mitochondria were also present in many of the terminals. In a number of instances the region of synaptic contact, with adhering portions of the postsynaptic cell membrane and postsynaptic density, could be readily discerned. Approximately 20--30% of the terminals in our preparations exhibited clear evidence of damage, as indicated by diffuse distribution of extracellular markers in the cytoplasm; the markers appeared to be excluded from the intraterminal vesicles under these circumstances. The markers were excluded from the cytoplasm in approximately 70--80% of the terminals, which may imply that these terminals have intact plasma membranes. When the terminals were treated with depolarizing agents (veratridine or K-rich media), in the presence of Ca, many new, large (600--900-A diameter) vesicles and some coated vesicles and new vacuoles appeared. When the media contained an extracellular marker, the newly formed structures frequently were labeled with the marker. If the veratridine-depolarized terminals were subsequently treated with tetrodotoxin (to repolarize the terminals) and allowed to "recover" for 60--90 min, most of the large marker-containing vesicles disappeared, and numerous small (approximately 400-A diameter) marker-containing vesicles appeared. These observations are consistent with the idea that pinched-off presynaptic terminals contain all of the machinery necessary for vesicular exocytosis and for the retrieval and recycling of synaptic vesicle membrane. The vesicle membrane appears to be retrieval primarily in the form of large diameter vesicles which are subsequently reprocessed to form new "typical" small-diameter synaptic vesicles.

scholarly journals EVIDENCE FOR RECYCLING OF SYNAPTIC VESICLE MEMBRANE DURING TRANSMITTER RELEASE AT THE FROG NEUROMUSCULAR JUNCTION

1973 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Heuser ◽  
T. S. Reese
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Synaptic Vesicle ◽  
Synaptic Vesicles ◽  
Motor Nerve ◽  
Coated Vesicles ◽  
Synaptic Membrane ◽  
Nerve Terminals ◽  
Frog Neuromuscular Junction ◽  
Vesicle Membrane ◽  
Intracellular Compartments

When the nerves of isolated frog sartorius muscles were stimulated at 10 Hz, synaptic vesicles in the motor nerve terminals became transiently depleted. This depletion apparently resulted from a redistribution rather than disappearance of synaptic vesicle membrane, since the total amount of membrane comprising these nerve terminals remained constant during stimulation. At 1 min of stimulation, the 30% depletion in synaptic vesicle membrane was nearly balanced by an increase in plasma membrane, suggesting that vesicle membrane rapidly moved to the surface as it might if vesicles released their content of transmitter by exocytosis. After 15 min of stimulation, the 60% depletion of synaptic vesicle membrane was largely balanced by the appearance of numerous irregular membrane-walled cisternae inside the terminals, suggesting that vesicle membrane was retrieved from the surface as cisternae. When muscles were rested after 15 min of stimulation, cisternae disappeared and synaptic vesicles reappeared, suggesting that cisternae divided to form new synaptic vesicles so that the original vesicle membrane was now recycled into new synaptic vesicles. When muscles were soaked in horseradish peroxidase (HRP), this tracerfirst entered the cisternae which formed during stimulation and then entered a large proportion of the synaptic vesicles which reappeared during rest, strengthening the idea that synaptic vesicle membrane added to the surface was retrieved as cisternae which subsequently divided to form new vesicles. When muscles containing HRP in synaptic vesicles were washed to remove extracellular HRP and restimulated, HRP disappeared from vesicles without appearing in the new cisternae formed during the second stimulation, confirming that a one-way recycling of synaptic membrane, from the surface through cisternae to new vesicles, was occurring. Coated vesicles apparently represented the actual mechanism for retrieval of synaptic vesicle membrane from the plasma membrane, because during nerve stimulation they proliferated at regions of the nerve terminals covered by Schwann processes, took up peroxidase, and appeared in various stages of coalescence with cisternae. In contrast, synaptic vesicles did not appear to return directly from the surface to form cisternae, and cisternae themselves never appeared directly connected to the surface. Thus, during stimulation the intracellular compartments of this synapse change shape and take up extracellular protein in a manner which indicates that synaptic vesicle membrane added to the surface during exocytosis is retrieved by coated vesicles and recycled into new synaptic vesicles by way of intermediate cisternae.

scholarly journals Redistribution of synaptophysin and synapsin I during alpha-latrotoxin-induced release of neurotransmitter at the neuromuscular junction.

1990 ◽  
Vol 110 (2) ◽  
pp. 449-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Torri-Tarelli ◽  
A Villa ◽  
F Valtorta ◽  
P De Camilli ◽  
P Greengard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Synaptic Vesicle ◽  
Synaptic Vesicles ◽  
Low Dose ◽  
Synapsin I ◽  
Nerve Terminals ◽  
Frozen Sections ◽  
Vesicle Membrane ◽  
Ultrathin Frozen Sections ◽  
Nerve Muscle ◽  
Molecular Components

The distribution of two synaptic vesicle-specific phosphoproteins, synaptophysin and synapsin I, during intense quantal secretion was studied by applying an immunogold labeling technique to ultrathin frozen sections. In nerve-muscle preparations treated for 1 h with a low dose of alpha-latrotoxin in the absence of extracellular Ca2+ (a condition under which nerve terminals are depleted of both quanta of neurotransmitter and synaptic vesicles), the immunolabeling for both proteins was distributed along the axolemma. These findings indicate that, in the presence of a block of endocytosis, exocytosis leads to the permanent incorporation of the synaptic vesicle membrane into the axolemma and suggest that, under this condition, at least some of the synapsin I molecules remain associated with the vesicle membrane after fusion. When the same dose of alpha-latrotoxin was applied in the presence of extracellular Ca2+, the immunoreactivity patterns resembled those obtained in resting preparations: immunogold particles were selectively associated with the membrane of synaptic vesicles, whereas the axolemma was virtually unlabeled. Under this condition an active recycling of both quanta of neurotransmitter and vesicles operates. These findings indicate that the retrieval of components of the synaptic vesicle membrane is an efficient process that does not involve extensive intermixing between molecular components of the vesicle and plasma membrane, and show that synaptic vesicles that are rapidly recycling still have the bulk of synapsin I associated with their membrane.

scholarly journals An antiserum specific for cholinergic synaptic vesicles from electric organ.

1980 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
S S Carlson ◽  
R B Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Synaptic Vesicle ◽  
Synaptic Vesicles ◽  
Membrane Fraction ◽  
Motor Nerve ◽  
Buoyant Density ◽  
Electric Organ ◽  
Rabbit Serum ◽  
Antigenic Determinants ◽  
Nerve Terminals ◽  
Isopycnic Centrifugation

Rabbit antisera to highly purified synaptic vesicles from the electric organ of Narcine brasiliensis, an electric ray, reveal a unique population of synaptic vesicle antigens in addition to a population shared with other electric organ membranes. Synaptic vesicle antigens were detected by binding successively rabbit antivesicle serum and radioactive goat anti-rabbit serum. To remove antibodies directed against antigens common to synaptic vesicles and other electric organ fractions, the antivesicle serum was extensively preadsorbed against an electric organ membrane fraction that was essentially free of synaptic vesicles. The adsorbed serum retained 40% of its ability to bind to synaptic vesicles, suggesting that about half of the antigenic determinants are unique. Vesicle antigens were quantified with a radioimmunoassay (RIA) that utilized precipitation of antibody-antigen complexes with Staphylococcus aureus cells. By this assay, the vesicles, detected by their acetylcholine (ACh) content and the antigens detected by the RIA, have the same buoyant density after isopycnic centrifugation of crude membrane fractions on sucrose and glycerol density gradients. The ratio of ACh to antigenicity was constant across the vesicle peaks and was close to that observed for vesicles purified to homogeneity. Even though the vesicles make up only approximately 0.5% of the material in the original homogenate, the ratio of acetylcholine to vesicle antigenicity could still be measured and also was indistinguishable from that of pure vesicles. We conclude that synaptic vesicles contain unique antigenic determinants not present to any measurable extent in other fractions of the electric organ. Consequently, it is possible to raise a synaptic vesicle-specific antiserum that allows vesicles to be detected and quantified. These findings are consistent with earlier immunohistochemical observations of specific antibody binding to motor nerve terminals.

Impairment of Synaptic Vesicle Exocytosis and Recycling During Neuromuscular Weakness Produced in Mice by 2,4-Dithiobiuret

2002 ◽  
Vol 88 (6) ◽  
pp. 3243-3258 ◽  
Author(s):  
You-Fen Xu ◽  
Dawn Autio ◽  
Mary B. Rheuben ◽  
William D. Atchison
Keyword(s):  
Synaptic Vesicle ◽  
Muscle Weakness ◽  
Nerve Stimulation ◽  
Synaptic Vesicles ◽  
Motor Nerve ◽  
Neuromuscular Disorders ◽  
Neuroaxonal Dystrophy ◽  
Nerve Terminals ◽  
Synaptic Vesicle Exocytosis ◽  
Vesicle Exocytosis

Chronic treatment of rodents with 2,4-dithiobiuret (DTB) induces a neuromuscular syndrome of flaccid muscle weakness that mimics signs seen in several human neuromuscular disorders such as congenital myasthenic syndromes, botulism, and neuroaxonal dystrophy. DTB-induced muscle weakness results from a reduction of acetylcholine (ACh) release by mechanisms that are not yet clear. The objective of this study was to determine if altered release of ACh during DTB-induced muscle weakness was due to impairments of synaptic vesicle exocytosis, endocytosis, or internal vesicular processing. We examined motor nerve terminals in the triangularis sterni muscles of DTB-treated mice at the onset of muscle weakness. Uptake of FM1-43, a fluorescent marker for endocytosis, was reduced to approximately 60% of normal after either high-frequency nerve stimulation or K+depolarization. Terminals ranged from those with nearly normal fluorescence (“bright terminals”) to terminals that were poorly labeled (“dim terminals”). Ultrastructurally, the number of synaptic vesicles that were labeled with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was also reduced by DTB to approximately 60%; labeling among terminals was similarly variable. A subset of DTB-treated terminals having abnormal tubulovesicular profiles in their centers did not respond to stimulation with increased uptake of HRP and may correspond to dim terminals. Two findings suggest that posttetanic “slow endocytosis” remained qualitatively normal: the rate of this type of endocytosis as measured with FM1-43 did not differ from normal, and HRP was observed in organelles associated with this pathway- coated vesicles, cisternae, as well as synaptic vesicles but not in the tubulovesicular profiles. In DTB-treated bright terminals, end-plate potential (EPP) amplitudes were decreased, and synaptic depression in response to 15-Hz stimulation was increased compared with those of untreated mice; in dim terminals, EPPs were not observed during block withd-tubocurarine. Nerve-stimulation-induced unloading of FM1-43 was slower and less complete than normal in bright terminals, did not occur in dim terminals, and was not enhanced by α-latrotoxin. Collectively, these results indicate that the size of the recycling vesicle pool is reduced in nerve terminals during DTB-induced muscle weakness. The mechanisms by which this reduction occurs are not certain, but accumulated evidence suggests that they may include defects in either or both exocytosis and internal vesicular processing.

scholarly journals Botulinum Neurotoxin a Blocks Synaptic Vesicle Exocytosis but Not Endocytosis at the Nerve Terminal

1999 ◽  
Vol 147 (6) ◽  
pp. 1249-1260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine A. Neale ◽  
Linda M. Bowers ◽  
Min Jia ◽  
Karen E. Bateman ◽  
Lura C. Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Synaptic Vesicle ◽  
Nerve Terminal ◽  
Neurotransmitter Release ◽  
Synaptic Vesicles ◽  
Botulinum Neurotoxin ◽  
Vesicle Membrane ◽  
Botulinum Neurotoxin A ◽  
Synaptic Vesicle Exocytosis ◽  
Vesicle Exocytosis ◽  
Botulinum Neurotoxins

The supply of synaptic vesicles in the nerve terminal is maintained by a temporally linked balance of exo- and endocytosis. Tetanus and botulinum neurotoxins block neurotransmitter release by the enzymatic cleavage of proteins identified as critical for synaptic vesicle exocytosis. We show here that botulinum neurotoxin A is unique in that the toxin-induced block in exocytosis does not arrest vesicle membrane endocytosis. In the murine spinal cord, cell cultures exposed to botulinum neurotoxin A, neither K+-evoked neurotransmitter release nor synaptic currents can be detected, twice the ordinary number of synaptic vesicles are docked at the synaptic active zone, and its protein substrate is cleaved, which is similar to observations with tetanus and other botulinal neurotoxins. In marked contrast, K+ depolarization, in the presence of Ca2+, triggers the endocytosis of the vesicle membrane in botulinum neurotoxin A–blocked cultures as evidenced by FM1-43 staining of synaptic terminals and uptake of HRP into synaptic vesicles. These experiments are the first demonstration that botulinum neurotoxin A uncouples vesicle exo- from endocytosis, and provide evidence that Ca2+ is required for synaptic vesicle membrane retrieval.

Identification of excitatory and inhibitory neuromuscular synapses in the crayfish thoracic deep flexor musculature

1981 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 364-369
Author(s):  
R. L. Crabtree ◽  
R. G. Sherman
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Synaptic Vesicle ◽  
Synaptic Vesicles ◽  
Synaptic Cleft ◽  
Nerve Terminals ◽  
Neuromuscular Synapses ◽  
Deep Flexors

Excitatory and inhibitory neuromuscular synapses in the thoracic deep flexors of the crayfish were examined using electron microscopy. Excitatory nerve terminals were found to have larger synaptic vesicles and a greater synaptic cleft distance than did inhibitory terminals. These results were confirmed by fixation enhancement of differences in synaptic vesicle morphology and the experimental depletion of vesicles in the excitatory nerve terminals.

scholarly journals Interactions of synapsin I with phospholipids: possible role in synaptic vesicle clustering and in the maintenance of bilayer structures.

1993 ◽  
Vol 123 (6) ◽  
pp. 1845-1855 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Benfenati ◽  
F Valtorta ◽  
M C Rossi ◽  
F Onofri ◽  
T Sihra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Synaptic Vesicle ◽  
Synaptic Vesicles ◽  
High Surface ◽  
Resonance Spectroscopy ◽  
Synapsin I ◽  
Hydrophobic Core ◽  
Membrane Phospholipids ◽  
Head Region ◽  
Vesicle Membrane ◽  
Liposome Fusion

Synapsin I is a synaptic vesicle-specific phosphoprotein composed of a globular and hydrophobic head and of a proline-rich, elongated and basic tail. Synapsin I binds with high affinity to phospholipid and protein components of synaptic vesicles. The head region of the protein has a very high surface activity, strongly interacts with acidic phospholipids and penetrates the hydrophobic core of the vesicle membrane. In the present paper, we have investigated the possible functional effects of the interaction between synapsin I and vesicle phospholipids. Synapsin I enhances both the rate and the extent of Ca(2+)-dependent membrane fusion, although it has no detectable fusogenic activity per se. This effect, which appears to be independent of synapsin I phosphorylation and localized to the head region of the protein, is attributable to aggregation of adjacent vesicles. The facilitation of Ca(2+)-induced liposome fusion is maximal at 50-80% of vesicle saturation and then decreases steeply, whereas vesicle aggregation does not show this biphasic behavior. Association of synapsin I with phospholipid bilayers does not induce membrane destabilization. Rather, 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy demonstrated that synapsin I inhibits the transition of membrane phospholipids from the bilayer (L alpha) to the inverted hexagonal (HII) phase induced either by increases in temperature or by Ca2+. These properties might contribute to the remarkable selectivity of the fusion of synaptic vesicles with the presynaptic plasma membrane during exocytosis.

Identification of synapsin I peptides that insert into lipid membranes

2001 ◽  
Vol 354 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. CHEETHAM ◽  
Sabine HILFIKER ◽  
Fabio BENFENATI ◽  
Thomas WEBER ◽  
Paul GREENGARD ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Synaptic Vesicle ◽  
Synaptic Vesicles ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Phospholipid Bilayer ◽  
Synapsin I ◽  
Affinity Binding ◽  
Hydrophobic Core ◽  
Vesicle Membrane ◽  
High Affinity Binding ◽  
High Affinity

The synapsins constitute a family of synaptic vesicle-associated phosphoproteins essential for regulating neurotransmitter release and synaptogenesis. The molecular mechanisms underlying the selective targeting of synapsin I to synaptic vesicles are thought to involve specific protein–protein interactions, while the high-affinity binding to the synaptic vesicle membrane may involve both protein–protein and protein–lipid interactions. The highly hydrophobic N-terminal region of the protein has been shown to bind with high affinity to the acidic phospholipids phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylinositol and to penetrate the hydrophobic core of the lipid bilayer. To precisely identify the domains of synapsin I which mediate the interaction with lipids, synapsin I was bound to liposomes containing the membrane-directed carbene-generating reagent 3-(trifluoromethyl)-3-(m-[125I]iodophenyl)diazirine and subjected to photolysis. Isolation and N-terminal amino acid sequencing of 125I-labelled synapsin I peptides derived from CNBr cleavage indicated that three distinct regions in the highly conserved domain C of synapsin I insert into the hydrophobic core of the phospholipid bilayer. The boundaries of the regions encompass residues 166–192, 233–258 and 278–327 of bovine synapsin I. These regions are surface-exposed in the crystal structure of domain C of bovine synapsin I and are evolutionarily conserved among isoforms across species. The present data offer a molecular explanation for the high-affinity binding of synapsin I to phospholipid bilayers and synaptic vesicles.

scholarly journals The synaptic vesicle cycle: a single vesicle budding step involving clathrin and dynamin.

1996 ◽  
Vol 133 (6) ◽  
pp. 1237-1250 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Takei ◽  
O Mundigl ◽  
L Daniell ◽  
P De Camilli
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Synaptic Vesicle ◽  
Synaptic Vesicles ◽  
Hippocampal Neurons ◽  
Coated Vesicles ◽  
Coated Vesicle ◽  
Nerve Terminals ◽  
Vesicle Budding ◽  
Vesicle Cycle ◽  
Single Vesicle

Strong evidence implicates clathrin-coated vesicles and endosome-like vacuoles in the reformation of synaptic vesicles after exocytosis, and it is generally assumed that these vacuoles represent a traffic station downstream from clathrin-coated vesicles. To gain insight into the mechanisms of synaptic vesicle budding from endosome-like intermediates, lysed nerve terminals and nerve terminal membrane subfractions were examined by EM after incubations with GTP gamma S. Numerous clathrin-coated budding intermediates that were positive for AP2 and AP180 immunoreactivity and often collared by a dynamin ring were seen. These were present not only on the plasma membrane (Takei, K., P.S. McPherson, S.L.Schmid, and P. De Camilli. 1995. Nature (Lond.). 374:186-190), but also on internal vacuoles. The lumen of these vacuoles retained extracellular tracers and was therefore functionally segregated from the extracellular medium, although narrow connections between their membranes and the plasmalemma were sometimes visible by serial sectioning. Similar observations were made in intact cultured hippocampal neurons exposed to high K+ stimulation. Coated vesicle buds were generally in the same size range of synaptic vesicles and positive for the synaptic vesicle protein synaptotagmin. Based on these results, we suggest that endosome-like intermediates of nerve terminals originate by bulk uptake of the plasma membrane and that clathrin- and dynamin-mediated budding takes place in parallel from the plasmalemma and from these internal membranes. We propose a synaptic vesicle recycling model that involves a single vesicle budding step mediated by clathrin and dynamin.

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