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Morphological correlates of functionally defined synaptic vesicle populations

Abstract

By combining photoconversion of FM1-43-stained vesicles and electron microscopy of hippocampal synapses, we find evidence that the population of morphologically docked synaptic vesicles corresponds to the release-ready neurotransmitter quanta. Furthermore, those synaptic vesicles that are participating in cycles of exo- and endocytosis tend to be closer to the active zone than vesicles that are being held in reserve.

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Figure 1: Micrographs illustrating synaptic components.
Figure 2: Reconstruction of a typical synapse.
Figure 3: Frequency distributions of vesicle opacity.
Figure 4: Number of docked vesicles versus the RRP size (from counting vesicles containing DAB reaction product) for the 38 synapses.
Figure 5: Spatial distribution of the recycling pool members within the bouton as a function of distance from the active zone.

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Correspondence to Charles F. Stevens.

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Schikorski, T., Stevens, C. Morphological correlates of functionally defined synaptic vesicle populations. Nat Neurosci 4, 391–395 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/86042

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