Voltage-gated calcium channel kinetics implicated in the process of fast neurotransmitter release.
Published: 2005
Language: eng
Number of pages: 71
Description: Voltage-gated calcium channels have long been known to be the controllers of neurotransmitter release. This study highlights kinetic differences in N-type channel populations in dorsal root ganglion soma and ciliary ganglion terminals, then extends these differences to physiological implications of neurotransmission. Opposing models hold that release sites are gated either by calcium domains of single, closely associated channels or by overlapping domains from many remote channels. This study reports a linear relationship between transmitter release and the number of open calcium channels indicative of single domain release site activation at the ciliary ganglion terminal. While consistent with results from squid giant synapse, this finding is at odds with the suggested overlapping domains of rodent synapses. However, these reports were reconciled by developing a model of 'percent domain overlap' whereby the degree of overlap is dependent on external calcium concentration. This relationship predicts the involvement of local calcium channels in release site activation.
Notes: Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

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Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-01, page: 0267.

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