Immunofluorescent evidence for exocytosis and internalization of secretory granule membrane in isolated chromaffin cells.

Cultured bovine adrenal medullary chromaffin cells were stimulated with the secretogogues Ba2+ or carbamyl choline plus Ca2+ in the presence of a monospecific rabbit IgG fraction directed against bovine dopamine beta-hydroxylase. The anti-dopamine beta-hydroxylase was labeled either with fluorescent protein A or with a fluorescent second antibody to rabbit IgG. Stimulation produced a patchy cell surface distribution of fluorescence. There was no noticeable internalization of the fluorescence for up to 2 h. In similar experiments using fluorescent monovalent fragments (Fab) of the same monospecificidopamine-beta-hydroxylase IgG, a more uniform distribution of the fluorescence was observed. A few min after a 5 min period of stimulation with Ba2+, the fluorescence appeared to be on or near the cell surface; however, after 20 min or more it was distributed throughout the cytoplasm except that the cell nuclei were not labeled. Thus, dopamine beta-hydroxylase which appeared on the cell surface as a consequence of exocytosis was internalized in the presence of monovalent antibody fragments, but not in the presence of the divalent (polyclonal) antibody, presumably because endocytosis of dopamine beta-hydroxylase was inhibited by crosslinking of the dopamine beta-hydroxylase molecules. The internalized anti-dopamine beta-hydroxylase Fab fragments were found to reappear on the cell surface during a second secretory response. It is concluded that the interior of the chromaffin granule membrane, for which dopamine beta-hydroxylase is a marker, becomes exposed on the surface of the cell during secretion and that the membrane is then retrieved back into the cell where it can be re-used in a further secretory cycle.