The Biochemistry of Neurotransmitter Secretion

Vesicular neurotransmitter transporters: Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Molecular Analysis

Visualizing neurotransmitter secretion at individual synapses.

To advance understanding of the brain, the ability to measure both nerve cell electrical spiking and chemical neurotransmission with high spatial resolution is required. In comparison to the development of voltage sensors and Ca(2+) indicator dyes over the past several decades, high resolution imaging of neurotransmitter (NT) release at single synapses has not been possible. In this Viewpoint, ...

Quantal neurotransmitter secretion rate exhibits fractal behavior.

The rate of exocytic events from both neurons and non-neuronal cells exhibits fluctuations consistent with fractal (self-similar) behavior in time, as evidenced by a number of statistical measures. We explicitly demonstrate this for neurotransmitter secretion at Xenopus neuromuscular junctions and for rat hippocampal synapses in culture; the exocytosis of exogenously supplied neurotransmitter f...

Overexpression of synaptophysin enhances neurotransmitter secretion at Xenopus neuromuscular synapses.

Previous studies have suggested the importance of synaptophysin (p38), a major integral membrane protein of the synaptic vesicle, in transmitter secretion, but few have directly addressed its functional role at intact synapses. In the present study, injection of synthetic mRNA for synaptophysin into one of the early blastomeres of a Xenopus embryo resulted in elevated synaptophysin expression i...

The 15th Iranian National Congress of Biochemistry & 6th International Congress of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology