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Chromogranins: from Cell Biology to Physiology and Biomedicine pp 249–260Cite as

Chromogranins and the Quantum Release of Catecholamines

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Abstract

Chromogranins (Cgs) are the most abundant intravesicular proteins of chromaffin granules. Using Cgs knockout mice, we found that the lack of chromogranin A (CgA), chromogranin B (CgB) or both drastically reduce the vesicular content of catecholamines (CA), impair its accumulation in granules and largely affect the kinetics of exocytosis. Conversely, the overexpression of CgA induces the genesis of vesicles, increases their quantal content and even transforms non-secretory in cells capable to secrete substances. We conclude that Cgs contribute to a highly efficient system that directly mediates monoamine accumulation and regulates the exocytotic process.

We dedicate this review to Prof. Hans-Hermann Gerdes who passed away in August 18, 2013. He largely contributed to enhance our knowledge of the functional roles of chromogranins.

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Abbreviations

CA:

Catecholamines

CgA:

Chromogranin A

CgA&B:

Chromogranins A and B

CgB:

Chromogranin B

Cgs:

Chromogranins

KO:

Knockout

LDCV:

Large dense core vesicle

SgII:

Secretogranin II

VMAT:

Vesicular mono-amine transporter

VNUT:

Vesicular nucleotide transporter

WT:

Wild type animals

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Acknowledgments

LC is the recipient of a fellowship from the Fundación CajaCanarias. This work is partially funded by the grant BFU2013-45253-P from the MINECO (Spain) to RB and JDM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unidad de Farmacología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de La Laguna, E-38320-La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain

    Leandro Castañeyra, Michelle Juan-Bandini, Natalia Domínguez, José David Machado & Ricardo Borges

  2. VU Medical Center, Clinical Genetics, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Natalia Domínguez

Authors
  1. Leandro Castañeyra
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  2. Michelle Juan-Bandini
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  3. Natalia Domínguez
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  4. José David Machado
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  5. Ricardo Borges
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ricardo Borges .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy

    Tommaso Angelone

  2. Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy

    Maria Carmela Cerra

  3. Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Science, University of Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy

    Bruno Tota

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Castañeyra, L., Juan-Bandini, M., Domínguez, N., Machado, J.D., Borges, R. (2017). Chromogranins and the Quantum Release of Catecholamines. In: Angelone, T., Cerra, M., Tota, B. (eds) Chromogranins: from Cell Biology to Physiology and Biomedicine. UNIPA Springer Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58338-9_15

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