Jang Yeseul, Kim Sung Rae, Lee Sung Hoon
College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea.
Appl Microsc. 2021 Mar 17;51(1):2. doi: 10.1186/s42649-021-00051-0.
Synaptic vesicles, which are endogenous to neurotransmitters, are involved in exocytosis by active potentials and release neurotransmitters. Synaptic vesicles used in neurotransmitter release are reused via endocytosis to maintain a pool of synaptic vesicles. Synaptic vesicles show different types of exo- and endocytosis depending on animal species, type of nerve cell, and electrical activity. To accurately understand the dynamics of synaptic vesicles, direct observation of synaptic vesicles is required; however, it was difficult to observe synaptic vesicles of size 40-50 nm in living neurons. The exo-and endocytosis of synaptic vesicles was confirmed by labeling the vesicles with a fluorescent agent and measuring the changes in fluorescence intensity. To date, various methods of labeling synaptic vesicles have been proposed, and each method has its own characteristics, strength, and drawbacks. In this study, we introduce methods that can measure presynaptic activity and describe the characteristics of each technique.
突触小泡是神经递质的内源性物质，通过动作电位参与胞吐作用并释放神经递质。用于神经递质释放的突触小泡通过内吞作用被重新利用，以维持突触小泡池。根据动物种类、神经细胞类型和电活动，突触小泡表现出不同类型的胞吐和内吞作用。为了准确理解突触小泡的动力学，需要直接观察突触小泡；然而，在活神经元中观察大小为40 - 50nm的突触小泡是困难的。通过用荧光剂标记突触小泡并测量荧光强度的变化来证实突触小泡的胞吐和内吞作用。迄今为止，已经提出了各种标记突触小泡的方法，每种方法都有其自身的特点、优点和缺点。在本研究中，我们介绍了可以测量突触前活动的方法，并描述了每种技术的特点。
