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Substructure and responses of cholinergic synaptic vesicles in the atomic force microscope
Author(s) -
García Ricardo A.,
Laney Daniel E.,
Parsons Stanley M.,
Hansma Helen G.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of neuroscience research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.72
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1097-4547
pISSN - 0360-4012
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-4547(19980501)52:3<350::aid-jnr11>3.0.co;2-a
Subject(s) - vesicle , biophysics , synaptic vesicle , chemistry , osmotic concentration , osmotic shock , lysis , lipid bilayer , osmotic pressure , bilayer , cholinergic , membrane , biochemistry , biology , neuroscience , gene
The substructure and responses of individual 100‐nm synaptic vesicles to osmotic stress have been probed with an atomic force microscope (AFM) operating in tapping mode. Cholinergic synaptic vesicles from the electric organ of Torpedo californica were imaged continuously as the osmolarity of the buffer was decreased.Vesicles in hyposmotic buffer lysed to form flat circular structures on the mica surface with a diameter about two times that of intact vesicles and a thickness of 7.2 ± 1.7 nm, which can accommodate the lipid bilayer plus the internal proteoglycan. Images of intact vesicles in air reveal creases in the membrane surface. Phase mode AFM images of lysed vesicles in air show the presence of a material not seen on intact vesicles that might be intravesicular proteoglycan released from the membrane at very low osmotic and ionic strength. J. Neurosci. Res. 52:350–355, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.