Abstract
Synapses recycle their spent vesicles in order to keep up with on-going neurotransmitter release. To investigate vesicle recycling in the small synapses of hippocampal neurons, we have used an optical recording method that permits us to resolve single-vesicle events. Here we show that an exocytic event can terminate with three modes of vesicle retrieval: a fast (400â860âms) âkiss-and-runâ mode that has a selective fusion pore; a slow (8â21âs) âcompensatoryâ mode; and a âstrandedâ mode of recycling, in which a vesicle is left on the cell surface until a nerve impulse triggers its retrieval. We have also observed that, in response to a nerve impulse, synapses with low release probability primarily use the kiss-and-run mode, whereas high release probability terminals predominantly use the compensatory mode of vesicle retrieval.
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Acknowledgements
We thank R. Jacobs, M. Pilla and J. Sullivan for technical support; D. De Angelis for the super-ecliptic phluorin construct; Roger Tsien for suggesting the use of photobleaching; and N. Spitzer for a critical reading of this manuscript.
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Gandhi, S., Stevens, C. Three modes of synaptic vesicular recycling revealed by single-vesicle imaging. Nature 423, 607â613 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01677
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01677
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