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The Origin and Some Possible Mechanisms of the Release of Acetylcholine at Synapses

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Metabolic Compartmentation and Neurotransmission

Abstract

Very shortly after the enunciation of the quantal theory of synaptic transmission by Del Castillo and Katz (1954), small vesicles were observed in the synaptic region by electron microscopy (De Robertis and Bennett, 1955). It seemed reasonable, as suggested by De Castillo and Katz (1955), that these vesicles were the morphological counterparts of the quanta, and it was envisaged that they could quantitatively release their contents into the synaptic cleft by reverse micropinocytosis or exocytosis (Del Castillo and Katz, 1957). The demonstration by Whittaker et al. (1964) that these vesicles did indeed contain the neurotransmitter acetylcholine strengthened the vesicular hypothesis, but despite considerable attention from investigators there remain difficulties with it. This chapter describes some of the problems with the vesicular hypothesis as applied to the cholinergic system and suggests an alternative mechanism of release that might bear consideration, even though it is not without its own difficulties.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Psychiatry, London, England

    R. M. Marchbanks

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  1. R. M. Marchbanks
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA

    Soll Berl

  2. Fordham University, Bronx, New York, USA

    D. D. Clarke

  3. Neurosciences Research Program, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Diana Schneider

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© 1975 Plenum Press, New York

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Marchbanks, R.M. (1975). The Origin and Some Possible Mechanisms of the Release of Acetylcholine at Synapses. In: Berl, S., Clarke, D.D., Schneider, D. (eds) Metabolic Compartmentation and Neurotransmission. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-4319-6_37

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-4319-6_37

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-4321-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-4319-6

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