The nerve cells communicate with each other via the synapses. They are used to transmit excitation, but also allow signal transmission to be modulated and are able to store information. The number of synapses in the adult brain is estimated at 100 trillion (1014); based on single neuron, it fluctuates between 1 and 200,000. For long time, the structure and equipment of these highly complex structures were not known in detail.
But last year the team around Prof. Dr. Silvio O. Rizzoli, Neuro and Sensory Physiology at the University Medical Center Göttingen, succeeded in determining the correct number and position of all the important building blocks of synapse. In this way, the first scientifically sound 3-D model of synapse was created (Science 2014; 344: 1023–8). It now serves as reference source for neuroscientists in all fields.
“We were able to use this 3-D model for the first time show that proteins are required in very different numbers for the various processes within the synapse, ”said Dr. Benjamin G. Wilhelm, first author of the publication. The synapse model also provided further information on controversy that has long been discussed in neuroscience: How many synaptic vesicles can be used simultaneously in synapse? The researchers found that there are up to 26,000 copies of the proteins in synapse that are involved in the release of neurotransmitters from the synaptic vesicles. This is more than enough. But the proteins available for recycling are only sufficient for seven to eleven percent of all vesicles in the synapse. This means that the majority of the vesicles of synapse cannot be used at the same time.
Nevertheless: the processes in which many different proteins are involved are astonishingly precisely coordinated. The building blocks of the cell machinery interlock highly efficiently, without overproduction or waste. The various proteins are also subject to completely different transport mechanisms and have very different lifetimes. So how the cell manages this amazing fine-tuning so successfully remains unclear.
The nerve cells communicate with each other via the synapses. They are used to transmit excitation, but also allow signal transmission to be modulated and are able to store information. The number of synapses in the adult brain is estimated at 100 trillion (1014); based on single neuron, it fluctuates between 1 and 200,000. For long time, the structure and equipment of these highly complex structures were not known in detail.
But last year the team around Prof. Dr. Silvio O. Rizzoli, Neuro and Sensory Physiology at the University Medical Center Göttingen, succeeded in determining the correct number and position of all the important building blocks of synapse. In this way, the first scientifically sound 3-D model of synapse was created (Science 2014; 344: 1023–8). It now serves as reference source for neuroscientists in all fields.
“We were able to use this 3-D model for the first time show that proteins are required in very different numbers for the various processes within the synapse, ”said Dr. Benjamin G. Wilhelm, first author of the publication. The synapse model also provided further information on controversy that has long been discussed in neuroscience: How many synaptic vesicles can be used simultaneously in synapse? The researchers found that there are up to 26,000 copies of the proteins in synapse that are involved in the release of neurotransmitters from the synaptic vesicles. This is more than enough. But the proteins available for recycling are only sufficient for seven to eleven percent of all vesicles in the synapse. This means that the majority of the vesicles of synapse cannot be used at the same time.
Nevertheless: the processes in which many different proteins are involved are astonishingly precisely coordinated. The building blocks of the cell machinery interlock highly efficiently, without overproduction or waste. The various proteins are also subject to completely different transport mechanisms and have very different lifetimes. So how the cell manages this amazing fine-tuning so successfully remains unclear.zyl
A video animation by the research team shows the protein diversity within synapse and its structure (www.sciencemag.org).
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