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WIBR Seminar
'Intrinsic Optical Changes in Mammalian Nerve Terminals (and Dense Core Vesicles as Calcium Amplifiers)'
Professor Brian M. Salzberg
Host: Professor David Sattelle
Although much our work has involved extrinsic optical probes of membrane
potential and ion activities, i.e., voltage-sensitive dyes and calcium
indicator dyes, I will concentrate today on intrinsic
optical methods. I will discuss findings using light scattering,
auto-fluorescence, and atomic force microscopy, and, in particular, what we can
learn from these approaches about the behavior of vertebrate nerve terminals
during neuropeptide release. Light scattering changes are often coupled to
volume changes; auto-fluorescence may reveal mitochondrial activity,
particularly oxidative phosphorylation; and atomic force microscopy, when of
sufficiently high bandwidth, can tell us about very rapid volume changes that
may be related to water movement through ion channels. Large dense-core
vesicles in peptidergic nerve terminals are studded with calcium release
channels, and these channels, Ryananodine receptors, may act as calcium
amplifiers in neuropeptide exocytosis. All of these phenomena
relate to the behavior of neurohypophysial nerve terminals following the
arrival of the action potential (and action currents).
Date: Thursday 20th October 2016
Time: 4pm (please arrive 15 mins before start)
Venue: Cruciform Café, 1st Floor Cruciform Building, Gower Street, UCL, WC1E 6BT
Refreshments will be provided
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