The adrenal chromaffin granule: a model for large dense core vesicles of endocrine and nervous tissue.

More than 25 years have elapsed since R. E. Coupland made his classic observations on the ultrastructure of chromaffin granules, on the histochemical differentiation of noradrenaline and adrenaline storage granules and on their release by exocytosis. This essay attempts to demonstrate that subsequent studies on the biochemistry of chromaffin granules have yielded analytical and functional data relevant for all large dense core vesicles of endocrine and nervous tissue.