Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Reigada D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC152319 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Reigada David D Díez-Pérez Ismael I Gorostiza Pau P Verdaguer Albert A Gómez de Aranda Inmaculada I Pineda Oriol O Vilarrasa Jaume J Marsal Jordi J Blasi Joan J Aleu Jordi J Solsona Carles C
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20030310 6
Neurotransmitters are stored in synaptic vesicles, where they have been assumed to be in free solution. Here we report that in Torpedo synaptic vesicles, only 5% of the total acetylcholine (ACh) or ATP content is free, and that the rest is adsorbed to an intravesicular proteoglycan matrix. This matrix, which controls ACh and ATP release by an ion-exchange mechanism, behaves like a smart gel. That is, it releases neurotransmitter and changes its volume when challenged with small ionic concentrati ...[more]