Synaptic transmission glutamate release

Schematic diagram of a primary afferent neuron mediating pain, its synapse with a secondary afferent in the spinal cord, and the targets for local pain control. The primary afferent neuron cell body is not shown. At least three nociceptors are recognized acid, injury, and heat receptors. The nerve ending also bears opioid receptors, which can inhibit action potential generation. The axon bears sodium channels and potassium channels (not shown), which are essential for action potential propagation. Synaptic transmission involves release of substance P, a neuropeptide (NP) and glutamate and activation of their receptors on the secondary neuron. Alpha2 adrenoceptors and opioid receptors modulate the transmission process.

There are numerous transmitter substances. They include the amino acids glutamate, GABA and glycine acetylcholine the monoamines dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin the neuropeptides ATP and NO. Many neurones use not a single transmitter but two or even more, a phenomenon called cotransmission. Chemical synaptic transmission hence is diversified. The basic steps, however, are similar across all neurones, irrespective of their transmitter, with the exception of NO transmitter production and vesicular storage transmitter release postsynaptic receptor activation and transmitter inactivation. Figure 1 shows an overview. Nitrergic transmission, i.e. transmission by NO, differs from transmission by other transmitters and is not covered in this essay. 

Interest in the PGs has recently reverted to their precursor arachidonic acid (AA), which seems to be able to act intracellulary as a second messenger, and also extra-cellularly. In this latter mode it may play a part in LTP. It is known that AA produces a long-lasting enhancement of synaptic transmission in the hippocampus that resembles LTP and in fact activation of NMDA receptors leads to the release of AA by phospholipase A2 (see Dumuis et al. 1988) and inhibition of this enzyme prevents the induction of LTP. AA has also been shown to block the uptake of glutamate (see Williams and Bliss 1989) which would potentiate its effects on NMDA receptors. This would not only prolong LTP but also cause neurotoxicity. 

In addition to their transporter function, perisynaptic transporters function as buffers to confine the extracellular free glutamate to receptors nearest the postsynaptic release sites. The total concentration of glial transporters in some CNS synaptic regions is estimated to be sufficient to bind the glutamate content of three to five vesicles per synapse [45]. This buffering , which occurs mostly in end-feet of astrocytes, is essential for reliable synaptic transmission of high-frequency signals [46]. 

Kainate receptors mediate a depression of evoked excitatory synaptic transmission in areas CA1 (40,88-90) and CA3 (35,37,91,92) of the hippocampus. There is strong evidence that in area CA1 the locus of this effect is presynaptic. Thus, activation of kainate receptors depresses release of L-glutamate from synaptosomes (88) and depresses both NMDA and AMPA receptor-mediated components of the evoked EPSC in parallel (88,90). Furthermore, the effects of kainate receptor activation on excitatory synaptic transmission in CA1 are associated with changes in presynaptic Ca2+ (89), an increase in paired-pulse facilitation (35,88,89), and a reduction in quantal content, as assessed using 1/CV2, but no change in mEPSC amplitude (90). 

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