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Vesicle pools and synapsins: New insights into old enigmas

  • Brain Cell Views
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Brain Cell Biology

Abstract

Synapsins are a multigene family of neuron-specific phosphoproteins and comprise the most abundant synaptic vesicle proteins. They have been proposed to tether synaptic vesicles to each other to maintain a reserve pool in the vicinity of the active zone. Such a role is supported by the observation that disruption of synapsin function leads to a depletion of the reserve pool of vesicles and an increase in synaptic depression. However, other functions for synapsins have been proposed as well, and there currently exists no coherent picture of how these abundant proteins modulate synaptic transmission. Here, we discuss novel insights into how synapsins may regulate neurotransmitter release.

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Acknowledgments

Work in the laboratory is supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (MEC). SH is a Ramón y Cajal Fellow.

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  1. Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine “López-Neyra”, CSIC (Spanish National Research Council), 18100, Granada, Spain

    Elena Fdez & Sabine Hilfiker

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  1. Elena Fdez
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  2. Sabine Hilfiker
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Correspondence to Sabine Hilfiker.

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Fdez, E., Hilfiker, S. Vesicle pools and synapsins: New insights into old enigmas. Brain Cell Bio 35, 107–115 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11068-007-9013-4

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