© 2003 Nature Publishing Group
In A, researchers used a fluorescent protein (synaptopHluorin) to visualize synaptic vesicle movement. Some vesicles stay open briefly before retrieval (kiss-and-run). Others stay open longer but also don't collapse fully into the plasma membrane (compensatory). Still others collapse and are not retrieved until another stimulus is delivered (stranded). In B, another group used a dye FM1-43, to study vesicle retrieval and found that single vesicles can undergo many rounds of fusion. Single electrical stimuli caused only partial loss of dye. Further release from the same vesicle could sometimes be evoked, but not until a dead time of around 23 seconds had passed. (From S.O. Rizzoli, W.J. Betz,
Communication between neurons – the stuff of our senses, emotions, and memories, as well as motor and visceral control – relies on chemical messengers. Packaged into tiny membrane-enclosed vesicles, neurotransmitters are delivered when a nerve ...
