Sulzer D, Holtzman E
Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York 10027.
J Neurocytol. 1989 Aug;18(4):529-40. doi: 10.1007/BF01474548.
By using the 'acidotropic' vital dye, Acridine Orange, we have found that the presynaptic terminals of rod and cone photoreceptors in retinas of Rana pipiens maintain a low pH relative to the surrounding medium through an energy dependent mechanism. When this pH is raised, by exposing the retinas to weak bases like ammonium chloride, the terminals exhibit large, membrane-delimited compartments, many of which accumulate endocytic tracers. This effect is partly reversed when the weak bases are removed. We infer that among the acidified structures within the terminals are endocytic compartments with at least some of the characteristics of the endosomes that participate in receptor-mediated endocytosis in other cell types. One role of these structures in the terminals may be in the recycling of synaptic vesicles.
通过使用“嗜酸性”活性染料吖啶橙,我们发现,牛蛙视网膜中视杆和视锥光感受器的突触前终末通过一种能量依赖机制维持相对于周围介质较低的pH值。当通过将视网膜暴露于氯化铵等弱碱中来提高该pH值时,终末会呈现出大的、膜界定的区室,其中许多区室积累内吞示踪剂。当去除弱碱时,这种效应会部分逆转。我们推断,终末内酸化结构中存在内吞区室,其至少具有一些与其他细胞类型中参与受体介导的内吞作用的内体相同的特征。这些结构在终末中的一个作用可能是参与突触小泡的循环利用。