Calcium and Neurotransmitter Release

Kerry R Delaney, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Elise E Stanley, Toronto Western Research Institute, Ontario, Canada

Published online: September 2009

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0000027.pub3

Information is coded in the brain as patterns of electrical impulses that are transmitted along nerve processes. These impulses are passed from one neuron to the next primarily at chemical synapses where the electrical event is converted to the release of a neurotransmitter substance that activates the next neuron in the pathway. Neurotransmitter release is triggered by the opening of ‘voltage-sensitive’ calcium channels, the admission of a small pulse of Ca2+ ions and the binding of these ions to the neurotransmitter secretion apparatus culminating in the fusion and discharge of a transmitter-filled secretory vesicle. Increasing evidence suggests that most synapses an individual release site is gated by ion influx through one or more nearby calcium channels. In this section, we explore the physiology of this impulse-to-secretion gating mechanism.

Key Concepts

  • Information is transmitted between one neuron and the next at synapses where the nerve fibre terminal of the upstream (presynaptic) neuron contacts the surface membrane of the downstream (postsynaptic) one.
  • Most synapses transmit by secreting a chemical neurotransmitter across the narrow space between pre- and postsynaptic surface membranes.
  • Transmitter secretion is triggered by an electrical impulse that travels down the presynaptic nerve fibre to the terminal.
  • Neurotransmitter is stored in tiny membrane ‘packets’ called synaptic vesicles which can be triggered to secrete by fusing with the presynaptic membrane at the ‘transmitter release site’.
  • The synaptic vesicles are ‘docked’ at the release site ready for secretion.
  • Influx of calcium ions through selective voltage-sensitive ion channels (calcium channels) plays a key role to link the action potential to the triggering of secretory vesicle discharge.
  • Calcium channels are positioned very close to the secretory vesicles so that when they open the spurt of entering calcium ions, called a ‘calcium domain’, can rapidly and effectively access the triggering sites for synaptic vesicle fusion.

Keywords: presynaptic; calcium channel; transmitter release; ion channel domain; synaptic vesicle; depolarization; exocytosis

Figure 1. Dependence of release on presynaptic calcium influx. Release is increased when Ca2+ influx is increased but the effectiveness of increased Ca2+ influx depends on how the increase is achieved. At this synapse (crayfish neuromuscular junction) changing the extracellular [Ca2+], which alters the flux per channel, is proportionally more effective than broadening the action potential with a voltage-dependent K+ channel blocker, which mainly increases the duration of channel openings or the number of channels that open during an action potential. Straight lines correspond to release=k[Ca]n, where k is a constant of proportionality and n=5 for changing external [Ca2+] or 1.6 for action potential broadening. Data adapted from Delaney et al. (1991).
Figure 2. Models of transmitter release site activation by overlapping (a) or single (b) Ca2+ channel domains at the frog neuromuscular junction. At this synapse, the Ca2+ channels form two parallel linear rows and the secretory vesicles are lined up exterior to these rows. The model presumes that the secretory vesicle is docked to a fusion apparatus with multiple Ca2+-binding sites, four of which must be occupied to initiate fusion. (a) Ca2+ ions enter through a large number of ion channels and pool at the release site to trigger fusion. (b) The opposite extreme model, the fusion apparatus is located sufficiently close to an individual Ca2+ channel so that the Ca2+-binding sites can be readily occupied by the high concentration of ions in the ‘single-channel domain’. The approximate extent of a 10 mol L–1 or higher single-channel domain is depicted by the blue dashed line.
Figure 3. (a) Freeze-fracture electron micrograph showing an active zone in an amphibian auditory saccular hair cell characterized by a high density of intramembraneous particles. These particles correspond to voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels and Ca2+-activated K+ channels. The synaptic vesicles are removed during the freeze-fracture process since they are attached to the inner membrane leaflet lifted away during cleavage. In an intact active zone, vesicles are localized around these particles (see Roberts et al., 1990). (b) A hypothetical arrangement of synaptic vesicles based on the study of Lenzi et al. (1999). Docked synaptic vesicles, attached to the inner surface of the plasma membrane, are tightly localized to regions containing clusters of Ca2+ channels. Bar, 100 nm. Photomicrograph kindly supplied by R. Jacobs, A.J. Hudspeth and W. Roberts.
Figure 4. Two models depicting essential elements of the calcium channel–transmitter release site protein complex. In model (a), from Stanley (1993), the calcium channel is within 25 nm of the secretory vesicle docking/fusion complex. It was hypothesized that this association requires a protein that links the channel and secretory vesicle docking fusion complex. In effect, this protein serves a double role: to anchor the channel within the active zone and to tether (Tth) the secretory vesicle within the channel calcium domain (dashed line). In model (b) these two functions are depicted as molecular links; an anchor from a ‘base complex’ (BC) that maintains the channel within the active zone, and second by a Tth to the synaptic vesicle (SV) docking/fusion complex (DF).
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Neurotransmitters | Ion Channels
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Article Title: Calcium and Neurotransmitter Release
 
How to Cite close
Delaney, Kerry R, and Stanley, Elise E(Sep 2009) Calcium and Neurotransmitter Release. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0000027.pub3]