Weak endogenous Ca2+ buffering supports sustained synaptic transmission by distinct mechanisms in rod and cone photoreceptors in salamander retina

Physiological Reports

Matthew J. Van Hook¹ 

[1] Truhlsen Eye Institute and Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska

关键词: Calcium;    photoreceptor;    retina;    ribbon synapse;    synaptic transmission;   

DOI  :  10.14814/phy2.12567

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

Differences in synaptic transmission between rod and cone photoreceptors contribute to different response kinetics in rod- versus cone-dominated visual pathways. We examined Ca²⁺ dynamics in synaptic terminals of tiger salamander photoreceptors under conditions that mimicked endogenous buffering to determine the influence on kinetically and mechanistically distinct components of synaptic transmission. Measurements of I_Cl(Ca) confirmed that endogenous Ca²⁺ buffering is equivalent to ~0.05 mmol/L EGTA in rod and cone terminals. Confocal imaging showed that with such buffering, depolarization stimulated large, spatially unconstrained [Ca²⁺] increases that spread throughout photoreceptor terminals. We calculated immediately releasable pool (IRP) size and release efficiency in rods by deconvolving excitatory postsynaptic currents and presynaptic Ca²⁺ currents. Peak efficiency of ~0.2 vesicles/channel was similar to that of cones (~0.3 vesicles/channel). Efficiency in both cell types was not significantly affected by using weak endogenous Ca²⁺ buffering. However, weak Ca²⁺ buffering speeded Ca²⁺/calmodulin (CaM)-dependent replenishment of vesicles to ribbons in both rods and cones, thereby enhancing sustained release. In rods, weak Ca²⁺ buffering also amplified sustained release by enhancing CICR and CICR-stimulated release of vesicles at nonribbon sites. By contrast, elevating [Ca²⁺] at nonribbon sites in cones with weak Ca²⁺ buffering and by inhibiting Ca²⁺ extrusion did not trigger additional release, consistent with the notion that exocytosis from cones occurs exclusively at ribbons. The presence of weak endogenous Ca²⁺ buffering in rods and cones facilitates slow, sustained exocytosis by enhancing Ca²⁺/CaM-dependent replenishment of ribbons in both rods and cones and by stimulating nonribbon release triggered by CICR in rods.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Physiological Society and The Physiological Society.

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