Dense cores

Figure Bl.4.3. (a) A schematic illustration of the THz emission spectrum of a dense molecular cloud core at 30 K and the atmospheric transmission from ground and airborne altitudes (adapted, with pennission, from [17]). (b) The results of 345 GHz molecular line surveys of tlu-ee cores in the W3 molecular cloud the graphics at left depict tire evolutionary state of the dense cores inferred from the molecular line data [21],...

A representation of atomic structure. The various spheres are not drawn to scale. The lump of iron on the left would contain almost a million million million million (10 ) atoms, one of which is represented by the sphere in the top center of the page. In turn, each atom is composed of a number of electrons, protons, and neutrons. For example, an atom of the element iron contains 26 electrons, 26 protons, and 30 neutrons. The physical size of the atom is determined mainly by the number of electrons, but almost all of its mass is determined by the number of protons and neutrons in its dense core or nucleus (lower part of figure). The electrons are spread out around the nucleus, and their number determines atomic size but the protons and neutrons compose a very dense, small core, and their number determines atomic mass. 

Lattice models have the advantage that a number of very clever Monte Carlo moves have been developed for lattice polymers, which do not always carry over to continuum models very easily. For example, Nelson et al. use an algorithm which attempts to move vacancies rather than monomers [120], and thus allows one to simulate the dense cores of micelles very efficiently. This concept cannot be applied to off-lattice models in a straightforward way. On the other hand, a number of problems cannot be treated adequately on a lattice, especially those related to molecular orientations and nematic order. For this reason, chain models in continuous space are attracting growing interest. 

Nuclear energy, sometimes referred to as atomic energy, originates in the atomic nucleus, which is the extremely dense core at the heart of an atom. A large... 

Synaptic vesicles are the organelles in axon terminals that store neurotransmitters and release them by exocytosis. There are two types, the large dense-core vesicles, diameter about 90 nm, that contain neuropeptides, and the small synaptic vesicles, diameter about 50nm, that contain non-peptide transmitters. About ten vesicles per synapse are docked to the plasma membrane and ready for release, the readily releasable pool . Many more vesicles per synapse are stored farther away from the plasma membrane, the resting pool . When needed, the latter vesicles may be recruited into the readily releasable pool. Neuronal depolarization and activation of voltage-sensitive Ca2+... 

Chromaffin granules, platelet dense core vesicles, and synaptic vesicles accumulate ATP. ATP uptake has been demonstrated using chromaffin granules and synaptic vesicles and the process appears to depend on A(.lh+. It has generally been assumed that ATP is costored only with monoamines and acetylcholine, as an anion to balance to cationic charge of those transmitters. However, the extent of ATP storage and release by different neuronal populations remains unknown, and the proteins responsible for ATP uptake by secretory vesicles have not been identified. 

Figure 4.10 An electron micrograph of a terminal varicosity containing a large dense-core vesicle (LDCV), indicated by the arrow and many small synaptic vesicles (SSVs), some of which contain an electron dense core. Calibration mark 250 nM. (Figure kindly supplied by M. Fillenz)...

Winkler, H (1993) The adrenal chromaffin granule a model for larger dense core vesicles of endocrine and nervous tissue. J. Anat. 183 237-252. 

Abstract Protein-like copolymers were first predicted by computer-aided biomimetic design. These copolymers consist of comonomer units of differing hydrophilicity/hydro-phobicity. Heterogeneous blockiness, inherent in such copolymers, promotes chain folding with the formation of specific spatial packing a dense core consisting of hydrophobic units and a polar shell formed by hydrophilic units. This review discusses the approaches, those that have already been described and potential approaches to the chemical synthesis of protein-like copolymers. These approaches are based on the use of macromolecular precursors as well as the appropriate monomers. In addition, some specific physicochemical properties of protein like copolymers, especially their solution behaviour in aqueous media, are considered. 

FIGURE 1-8 A dendrite (D) emerging from a motor neuron in the anterior horn of a rat spinal cord is contacted by four axonal terminals terminal 1 contains clear, spherical synaptic vesicles terminals 2 and 3 contain both clear, spherical and dense-core vesicles (arrow) and terminal 4 contains many clear, flattened (inhibitory) synaptic vesicles. Note also the synaptic thickenings and, within the dendrite, the mitochondria, neurofilaments and neurotubules. x33,000. 

FIGURE 1-10 An axonal terminal at the surface of a neuron from the dorsal horn of a rabbit spinal cord contains both dense-core and clear, spherical synaptic vesicles lying above the membrane thickenings. A subsurface cisterna (arrow) is also seen. x68,000. 

However, an alternative pathway that bypasses clathrin-mediated endocytosis and EEs appears to be available as well. This model of endocytosis known as kiss and run or its variant kiss and stay have attracted increasing interest in recent years [74] (Fig. 9-9B). Kiss and run has been directly demonstrated with dense-core granules in neuroendocrine cells [84, 85], and this model would explain some observations that are not readily accommodated by the classical pathway. The kiss and run model proposes that neurotransmitters are released by a transient fusion pore, rather than by a complete fusion with integration of the synaptic vesicle components into the plasma membrane. Synaptic membrane proteins never lose their association and the vesicle reforms when the pore closes. As a result, the empty vesicle can be refilled and reused without going through clathrin-mediated endocytosis and sorting in the EEs. 

Neuropeptides are packaged into large, dense-core vesicles 325 Diversity is generated by families of propeptides, alternative splicing, proteolytic processing and post-translational modifications 326... 

The neuropeptides exhibit a few key differences from the classical neurotransmitters. First, neuropeptides are present in tissues at much lower concentrations than classical neurotransmitters. Consistent with this, neuropeptides are also active at receptors at correspondingly lower concentrations. For example, the concentration of ACh and NE in synaptic vesicles is in the 100-500 mmol/1 range, while the concentration of neuropeptide in a large dense core vesicle is 3-10 mmol/1 at most. Correspondingly, the affinity of ACh for its receptors is in the micromolar to millimolar range, while peptides typically bind to their receptors with affinities in the nanomolar to micromolar range. 

FIGURE 1 8-3 Intracellular pathway of bioactive peptide biosynthesis, processing and storage. Neuropeptide precursors are synthesized on ribosomes at the endoplasmic reticulum and processed through the Golgi. Axonal transport of the large dense-core vesicle to the synaptic site of release precedes the actual secretion. 

FIGURE18-4 Neuropeptides and conventional neurotransmitters are released from different parts of the nerve terminal. A neuromuscular junction containing both large dense-core vesicles (containing the neuropeptide SCP) and also small synaptic vesicles (containing acetylcholine) was stimulated for 30 min at 12 Hz (3.5 s every 7 s). Depletion of the small clear vesicles at the muscle face and of the peptide granules at the nonmuscle face of the nerve terminal was observed. After stimulation, there was an increase in the number of large dense-core vesicles within one vesicle diameter of the membrane. (Adapted from reference [37].)... 

---