Vesicular glutamate transporters 1 and 2 target to functionally distinct synaptic release sites.
basic_science · Level V
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Abstract
Vesicular glutamate transporters (VGLUTs) 1 and 2 show a mutually exclusive distribution in the adult brain that suggests specialization for synapses with different properties of release. Consistent with this distribution, inactivation of the VGLUT1 gene silenced a subset of excitatory neurons in the adult. However, the same cell populations exhibited VGLUT1-independent transmission early in life. Developing hippocampal neurons transiently coexpressed VGLUT2 and VGLUT1 at distinct synaptic sites with different short-term plasticity. The loss of VGLUT1 also reduced the reserve pool of synaptic vesicles. Thus, VGLUT1 plays an unanticipated role in membrane trafficking at the nerve terminal.
Medical subject headings
- Brain
- Carrier Proteins
- Membrane Transport Proteins
- Neurons
- Synapses
- Synaptic Transmission
- Synaptic Vesicles
- Vesicular Transport Proteins