Visualization of Synaptic Vesicle Movement in Intact Synaptic Boutons Using Fluorescence Fluctuation Spectroscopy

The synapsins are a family of four neuron-specific phosphoproteins that have been implicated in the regulation of neurotransmitter release. Nevertheless, knock-out mice lacking synapsin Ia and Ib, family members that are major substrates for cAMP and Ca2+/ Calmodulin (CaM)-dependent protein kinases, show limited phenotypic changes when analyzed electrophysiologically (Rosahl, T.W., D. Spillane, M. Missler, J. Herz, D.K. Selig, J.R. Wolff, R.E. Hammer, R.C. Malenka, and T.C. Sudhof. 1995. Nature (Lond.). 375: 488-493; Rosahl, T.W., M. Geppert, D. Spillane, D., J. Herz, R.E. Hammer, R.C. Malenka, and T.C. Sudhof. 1993. Cell. 75:661-670; Li, L., L.S. Chin, O. Shupliakov, L. Brodin, T.S. Sihra, O. Hvalby, V. Jensen, D. Zheng, J.O. McNamara, P. Greengard, and P. Andersen. 1995. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 92:9235-9239; see also Pieribone, V.A., O. Shupliakov, L. Brodin, S. Hilfiker-Rothenfluh, A.J. Czernik, and P. Greengard. 1995. Nature (Lond.). 375:493-497). Here, using the optical tracer FM 1-43, we characterize the details of synaptic vesicle recycling at individual synaptic boutons in hippocampal cell cultures derived from mice lacking synapsin I or wild-type equivalents. These studies show that both the number of vesicles exocytosed during brief action potential trains and the total recycling vesicle pool are significantly reduced in the synapsin I-deficient mice, while the kinetics of endocytosis and synaptic vesicle repriming appear normal.

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Eps15 and Dap160 control synaptic vesicle membrane retrieval and synapse development

The Journal of Cell Biology ◽

10.1083/jcb.200701030 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 178 (2) ◽

pp. 309-322 ◽

Cited By ~ 80

Author(s):

Tong-Wey Koh ◽

Viktor I. Korolchuk ◽

Yogesh P. Wairkar ◽

Wei Jiao ◽

Emma Evergren ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Synaptic Vesicle ◽

Growth Factor Receptor ◽

Dominant Negative ◽

Synaptic Activity ◽

Vesicle Membrane ◽

Binding Partner ◽

Epidermal Growth ◽

Synaptic Boutons ◽

High Concentrations ◽

Endocytic Proteins

Epidermal growth factor receptor pathway substrate clone 15 (Eps15) is a protein implicated in endocytosis, endosomal protein sorting, and cytoskeletal organization. Its role is, however, still unclear, because of reasons including limitations of dominant-negative experiments and apparent redundancy with other endocytic proteins. We generated Drosophila eps15-null mutants and show that Eps15 is required for proper synaptic bouton development and normal levels of synaptic vesicle (SV) endocytosis. Consistent with a role in SV endocytosis, Eps15 moves from the center of synaptic boutons to the periphery in response to synaptic activity. The endocytic protein, Dap160/intersectin, is a major binding partner of Eps15, and eps15 mutants phenotypically resemble dap160 mutants. Analyses of eps15 dap160 double mutants suggest that Eps15 functions in concert with Dap160 during SV endocytosis. Based on these data, we hypothesize that Eps15 and Dap160 promote the efficiency of endocytosis from the plasma membrane by maintaining high concentrations of multiple endocytic proteins, including dynamin, at synapses.

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