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Neurotransmitter releaseRegulation of presynaptic neurotransmitter release Rinetti, G. & Schweizer, F. Journal of Neuroscience, 30, pp. 3157-3166 (2010) http://www.jneurosci.org/ INTRODUCTION: This paper suggests that a protein system known as the UPS has a role in regulating neurotransmitter release. From the point of view of quantum consciousness theories this could be significant, given proposals elsewhere that cytoskeleton coherence could extend through presynaptic proteins and across the synaptic cleft. This paper concerns the involvement of the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) in the frequency of neurotransmitter release. The established function of proteasome is to regulate the concentration of proteins, and to degrade wrongly folded proteins. Unwanted proteins are tagged for degradation by the ubiquitin protein. In their recent paper, Rinetti and Schweizer suggest that the UPS may additionally be involved in the modulation of synaptic activity. The authors carried out a test of the effect of proteasome inhibitors on synaptic transmission. They measured the change in the frequency of miniature postsynaptic currents that reflected presynaptic activity, before and after the administration of inhibitors. A change in frequency indicative of what was going on at the presynaptic level became apparent with 10 minutes of the inhibitors being applied. This is taken to suggest that the UPS regulates presynaptic activity separately from its function in degrading unwanted proteins. A further test showed that the inhibition of the synthesis of other proteins involved in neurotransmitter release had no influence on those inhibitors that had been shown to change the frequency of presynaptic activity, suggesting that the UPS's modulation of presynaptic activity was separate from both the synthesis and the degradation of protein. A test in which the attachment of ubiquitin to proteins was blocked also produced an increase in the frequency of those postsynaptic currents that indicate presynaptic activity. The increase in frequency was regarded as surprising, but was also seen as indicative of the connection between the UPS and neurotransmitter release, and thence the UPS's ability to regulate neurotransmitter release. Reference:- P. Tai, H. & Schuman, E. (2008) - Ubiquitin, the proteasome and protein degradation in neuronal function and dysfunction - Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9, pp. 826-38, (2008) |
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