Molecular mechanisms in synaptic vesicle recycling

Abstract

Synaptic vesicles are specialized secretory organelles which are involved in the fast, point-to-point signaling typical of synapses. They store and secrete non-peptide neurotransmitters and are continuously regenerated in nerve terminals by exoendocytotic recycling. This recycling represents a highly specialized form of the recycling pathway which occurs at the surface of all cells. Several unique properties make synaptic vesicles a powerful experimental model for studies of vesicular traffic. These unique properties include their abundance in brain, the high specialization of nerve terminals for synaptic vesicle recycling, the possibility of studying their exocytosis at the level of single events by electrophysiology and the availability of toxins which block their recycling. This lecture will summarize current information of molecular mechanisms in synaptic vesicle recycling with emphasis on recent studies carried out in my laboratory on mechanisms of vesicle reformation after exocytosis.