Abstract
SYNAPTIC vesicles have assumed a role of singular importance in models of synaptic function as morphological evidence of their existence appeared simultaneously with the “quantal” theory of transmitter release1. The problem of synaptic vesicle origin, essential to understanding this role, has led to extensive investigations. Electron microscopic studies2–4 have demonstrated synaptic vesicles attached to the axolemma or open to the extracellular space, and suggest that some synaptic vesicles form by a process of micropinocytosis at the presynaptic terminal membrane. Freeze-etched preparations, besides showing smaller micropits (synaptopores) at presynaptic sites, have shown similar plasmalemmal vesicles at non-synaptic sites5. A micropinocytotic origin of synaptic vesicles remains uncertain, however, and other workers suggest an intracytoplasmic mechanism of origin6,7.
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TURNER, P., HARRIS, A. Ultrastructure of Synaptic Vesicle Formation in Cerebral Cortex. Nature 242, 57–59 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/242057a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/242057a0
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