Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

The same synaptic vesicles drive active and spontaneous release

Abstract

Synaptic vesicles release neurotransmitter both actively (on stimulation) and spontaneously (at rest). It has been assumed that identical vesicles use both modes of release; however, recent evidence has challenged this view. Using several assays (FM dye imaging, pHluorin imaging and antibody-labeling of synaptotagmin) in neuromuscular preparations from Drosophila, frog and mouse, as well as rat cultured neurons, we found that the same vesicles participate in active and spontaneous release.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Synaptic vesicle recycling was visualized with FM 1-43.
Figure 2: Repeated recycling visualized with synaptotagmin antibodies.
Figure 3: Synaptic vesicle recycling visualized with spH.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Del Castillo, J. & Katz, B. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 124, 560–573 (1954).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Heerssen, H., Fetter, R.D. & Davis, G.W. Curr. Biol. 18, 401–409 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Rizzoli, S.O. & Betz, W.J. J. Neurosci. 22, 10680–10689 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Harata, N., Ryan, T.A., Smith, S.J., Buchanan, J. & Tsien, R.W. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98, 12748–12753 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ikeda, K. & Bekkers, J.M. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106, 2945–2950 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Sara, Y., Virmani, T., Deak, F., Liu, X. & Kavalali, E.T. Neuron 45, 563–573 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Groemer, T.W. & Klingauf, J. Nat. Neurosci. 10, 145–147 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Mathew, S.S., Pozzo-Miller, L. & Hablitz, J.J. J. Neurosci. 28, 725–731 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Chung, C., Barylko, B., Leitz, J., Liu, X. & Kavalali, E.T. J. Neurosci. 30, 1363–1376 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Fredj, N.B. & Burrone, J. Nat. Neurosci. 12, 751–758 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Zhu, Y. & Stevens, C.F. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105, 18018–18022 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Schmidt, R. et al. Nano Lett. 9, 2508–2510 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Miesenböck, G., De Angelis, D.A. & Rothman, J.E. Nature 394, 192–195 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Harata, N.C., Choi, S., Pyle, J.L., Aravanis, A.M. & Tsien, R.W. Neuron 49, 243–256 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank R. Schmidt, A. Egner and U. Böhm (Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry) for isoSTED imaging. We thank K. Ebert, C. Schäfer and K. Kröhnert for expert technical assistance. The work was supported by a Starting Grant from the European Research Council, Program FP7 to S.O.R. (NANOMAP). T.W.G. acknowledges the support of the Interdisciplinary Center of Clinical Research at the University Hospital of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

B.G.W., T.W.G. and S.O.R. designed and performed experiments. B.G.W. and T.W.G. evaluated the manuscript. S.O.R. supervised the project and wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Silvio O Rizzoli.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Figures 1–5 and Supplementary Methods (PDF 988 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wilhelm, B., Groemer, T. & Rizzoli, S. The same synaptic vesicles drive active and spontaneous release. Nat Neurosci 13, 1454–1456 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2690

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2690

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing