Neuron
Volume 13, Issue 6, December 1994, Pages 1275-1280
Journal home page for Neuron

Localization of individual calcium channels at the release face of a presynaptic nerve terminal

https://doi.org/10.1016/0896-6273(94)90414-6Get rights and content

Summary

Studies using biophysical techniques suggest a highly structured organization of calcium channels at the presynaptic transmitter release face (Llinás et al., 1981; Stanley, 1993), but it has not as yet proved possible to localize identified channels at the required nanometer level of resolution. We have used atomic force microscopy on the calyx-type nerve terminal of the chick ciliary ganglion to localize single calcium channels tagged via biotinylated ω-conotoxin GVIA to avidin-coated 30 nm gold particles. Calcium channels were in low (modal value approximately ⩽ 1 per μm2) and high (modal value55 per μm2) density areas and exhibited a prominent interchannel spacing of 40 nm, indicating an intermolecular linkage. Particles were observed in clusters and short linear or parallel linear arrays, groupings that may reflect calcium channel organization at the transmitter release site.

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