Kinetics of synaptic depression and vesicle recycling after tetanic stimulation of frog motor nerve terminals

Habitual exercise enhances neuromuscular transmission efficacy of rat soleus muscle in situ

Rat motor nerve terminals and the endplates they interact with exhibit changes to varying patterns of use, as when exposed to increased activation in the form of endurance exercise training. The extent to which these changes affect neuromuscular transmission efficacy is uncertain. In this study, the effects of habitual exercise on the electrophysiological properties of neuromuscular transmission in rat soleus muscle were investigated using a novel in situ approach. Consistent with previous reports, miniature endplate potential frequency was enhanced by habitual exercise. Other passive properties, such as resting membrane potential, miniature endplate potential amplitude, and "giant" miniature endplate potential characteristics were unaltered by the training program. Full-size endplate potentials were obtained by blocking soleus muscle action potentials with mu-conotoxin GIIIb. Quantal content values were 91.5 and 119.9 for control and active groups, respectively (P < 0.01). We also measured the rate and extent of endplate potential amplitude rundown during 3-s trains of continuous stimulation at 25, 50, and 75 Hz; at 50 and 75 Hz, we found both the rate and extent of rundown to be significantly attenuated (10--20%) in a specific population of cells from active rats (P < 0.05). The results establish the degree of activity-dependent plasticity as it pertains to neuromuscular transmission in a mammalian slow-twitch muscle.

Two endocytic recycling routes selectively fill two vesicle pools in frog motor nerve terminals

We have identified and characterized two vesicle recycling pathways in frog motor nerve terminals. We exploited the differential staining properties of FM dyes of varying hydrophobicity to label selectively two different vesicle pools, using optical imaging and electron microscopy of photoconverted dyes. During a 1 min tetanus, a rapidly recycling route places vesicles selectively into a small readily releasable pool comprising about 20% of vesicles. After the tetanus, a much slower pathway (from which FM2-10 but not FM1-43 can be rinsed) delivers vesicles via infoldings and cisternae selectively to a reserve pool with a halftime of about 8 min. Mixing between the two pools is slow. During stimulation at 30 Hz, 10-15 s is required to mobilize and release dye from the reserve pool.

Mechanisms of synaptic vesicle recycling illuminated by fluorescent dyes

The recycling of synaptic vesicles in nerve terminals involves multiple steps, underlies all aspects of synaptic transmission, and is a key to understanding the basis of synaptic plasticity. The development of styryl dyes as fluorescent molecules that label recycling synaptic vesicles has revolutionized the way in which synaptic vesicle recycling can be investigated, by allowing an examination of processes in neurons that have long been inaccessible. In this review, we evaluate the major aspects of synaptic vesicle recycling that have been revealed and advanced by studies with styryl dyes, focussing upon synaptic vesicle fusion, retrieval, and trafficking. The greatest impact of styryl dyes has been to allow the routine visualization of endocytosis in central nerve terminals for the first time. This has revealed the kinetics of endocytosis, its underlying sequential steps, and its regulation by Ca2+. In studies of exocytosis, styryl dyes have helped distinguish between different modes of vesicle fusion, provided direct support for the quantal nature of exocytosis and endocytosis, and revealed how the probability of exocytosis varies enormously from one nerve terminal to another. Synaptic vesicle labelling with styryl dyes has helped our understanding of vesicle trafficking by allowing better understanding of different synaptic vesicle pools within the nerve terminal, vesicle intermixing, and vesicle clustering at release sites. Finally, the dyes are now being used in innovative ways to reveal further insights into synaptic plasticity.

Identification of a novel process limiting the rate of synaptic vesicle cycling at hippocampal synapses

During intense presynaptic activity, the readily releasable pool (RRP) of synaptic vesicles empties more quickly than it can be refilled, and short-term depression results. Ordinarily, the pool refills within 20 s, but long, high-frequency trains of action potentials often induce a form of short-term depression that persists for a much longer time. Here, we report that replenishment of the RRP is governed by two simple processes: the previously identified mechanism termed refilling, and another process that appears after extensive exocytosis and produces a transient decrease in the capacity of the pool, lasting for several minutes. The data presented here place stringent constraints on the types of kinetic models that can be used to describe synaptic vesicular cycling and are inconsistent with the traditional multipool models of vesicular mobilization.

Effect of phasic activation on endplate potential in rat diaphragm

Neuromuscular junction endplate potentials (EPPs) decrease quickly and to a large extent during continuous stimulation. The present study examined the hypothesis that EPP rundown recovers rapidly, thereby substantially preserving neurotransmission during intermittent compared with continuous stimulation. Studies were performed in vitro on rat diaphragm, using mu-conotoxin to allow recording of normal-sized EPPs from intact fibers. During continuous 5- to 100-Hz stimulation, EPP amplitude declined with a biphasic time course. The initial fast rate of decline was modulated substantially by stimulation frequency, whereas the subsequent slow rate of decline was relatively frequency independent. During intermittent 5- to 100-Hz stimulation (duty cycle 0.33), EPP amplitude declined rapidly during each train, but recovered substantially by the onset of the following train. The intra-train declines were substantially greater than the inter-train declines in EPP amplitude. Intra-train reductions in EPP amplitude were stimulation frequency dependent, based on both the total decline and rate constant of EPP decline. In contrast, the degree of recovery from train to train was independent of stimulation frequency, indicating low frequency dependence of inter-train rundown. The substantial recovery of EPP amplitude in between trains resulted in greater cumulative EPP size during intermittent compared with continuous stimulation. During continuous stimulation, EPP drop-out was only seen during 100-Hz stimulation; this was completed mitigated during intermittent stimulation. Miniature EPP size was unaffected by either continuous or intermittent stimulation. The pattern of rapid intra-train rundown and slow inter-train rundown of EPP size during intermittent stimulation is therefore due to rapid changes in the magnitude of neurotransmitter release rather than to axonal block or postsynaptic receptor desensitization. These findings indicate considerable rundown of EPP amplitudes within a stimulus train, with near complete recovery by the onset of the next train. This substantially attenuates the decrement in EPP amplitude during intermittent compared with continuous stimulation, thereby preserving the integrity of neurotransmission during phasic activation.

Frequency-dependent synaptic depression and the balance of excitation and inhibition in the neocortex

The stability of cortical neuron activity in vivo suggests that the firing rates of both excitatory and inhibitory neurons are dynamically adjusted. Using dual recordings from excitatory pyramidal neurons and inhibitory fast-spiking neurons in neocortical slices, we report that sustained activation by trains of several hundred presynaptic spikes resulted in much stronger depression of synaptic currents at excitatory synapses than at inhibitory ones. The steady-state synaptic depression was frequency dependent and reflected presynaptic function. These results suggest that inhibitory terminals of fast-spiking cells are better equipped to support prolonged transmitter release at a high frequency compared with excitatory ones. This difference in frequency-dependent depression could produce a relative increase in the impact of inhibition during periods of high global activity and promote the stability of cortical circuits.