Vesicular Transporters

Family of enzymes phosphorylating phosphatidylinositol (Ptdlns), PtdIns(4)phosphate, and PtdIns(4,5)phosphate in the 3-position. The Ptdlns(3 phospholipids are second messengers in processes like cell growth, cytoskeletal rearrangement, and vesicular transport. PI 3-kinases are heterodimers composed of a catalytic and a regulatory subunit. The enzymes are activated by insulin, many growth factors, and by a variety of cytokines. Their activity can be inhibited by wortmannin and LY294002. 

The exocytotic release of neurotransmitters from synaptic vesicles underlies most information processing by the brain. Since classical neurotransmitters including monoamines, acetylcholine, GABA, and glutamate are synthesized in the cytoplasm, a mechanism is required for their accumulation in synaptic vesicles. Vesicular transporters are multitransmembrane domain proteins that mediate this process by coupling the movement of neurotransmitters to the proton electrochemical gradient across the vesicle membrane. 

Synaptic vesicles isolated from brain exhibit four distinct vesicular neurotransmitter transport activities one for monoamines, a second for acetylcholine, a third for the inhibitory neurotransmitters GABA and glycine, and a fourth for glutamate [1], Unlike Na+-dependent plasma membrane transporters, the vesicular activities couple to a proton electrochemical gradient (A. lh+) across the vesicle membrane generated by the vacuolar H+-ATPase ( vacuolar type proton translocating ATPase). Although all of the vesicular transport systems rely on ApH+, the relative dependence on the chemical and electrical components varies (Fig. 1). The... 

In addition to direct inhibition of the vesicular transport protein, storage of neurotransmitters can be reduced by dissipation of the proton electrochemical gradient. Bafilomycin (a specific inhibitor of the vacuolar H+-ATPase), as well as the proton ionophores carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) and carbonylcyanide p-(trifluoromethoxy) phenylhy-drazone (FCCP) are used experimentally to reduce the vesicular storage of neurotransmitters. Weak bases including amphetamines and ammonium chloride are used to selectively reduce ApH. 

Liu Y, Edwards RH (1997) The role of vesicular transport proteins in synaptic transmission and neural degeneration. Annu Rev Neurosci 20 125-156... 

VGLUT is short for vesicular glutamate transporter. Vesicular Transporters... 

Certain other non-KDEL-containing proteins destined for the membranes of the ER also pass to the Golgi and then return, by retrograde vesicular transport, to the ER to be inserted therein (see below). 

Based largely on a proposal by Rothman and colleagues, anterograde vesicular transport can be considered to occur in eight steps (Figure 46-7). The basic concept is that each transport vesicle bears a unique address marker consisting of one or more v-SNARE proteins, while each target membrane bears one or more complementary t-SNARE proteins with which the former interact specifically. 

Figure 46-7. Model of the steps in a round of anterograde vesicular transport. The cycle starts in the bottom left-hand side of the figure, where two molecules of ARF are represented as small ovals containing GDP. The steps in the cycle are described in the text. Most of the abbreviations used are explained in Table 46-7. The roles of Rab and Seel proteins (see text) in the overall process are not dealt with in this figure. (CGN, cis-Golgi network BFA, Brefeldin A.) (Adapted from Rothman JE Mechanisms of intracellular protein transport Nature 1994 372 55.) (Courtesy of E Degen.)...

After reuptake into the cytosol, some noradrenaline may be taken up into the storage vesicles by the vesicular transporter and stored in the vesicles for subsequent release (see above). However, it is thought that the majority is broken down within the cytosol of the nerve terminal by monoamine oxidase (MAO ECl.4.3.4). A second degradative enzyme, catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT EC2.1.1.6), is found mostly in nonneuronal tissues, such as smooth muscle, endothelial cells or glia. The metabolic pathway for noradrenaline follows a complex sequence of alternatives because the metabolic product of each of these enzymes can act as a substrate for the other (Fig 8.8). This could enable one of these enzymes to compensate for a deficiency in the other to some extent. 

The main problems with early, irreversible MAOIs were adverse interactions with other drugs (notably sympathomimetics, such as ephedrine, phenylpropanolamine and tricyclic antidepressants) and the infamous "cheese reaction". The cheese reaction is a consequence of accumulation of the dietary and trace amine, tyramine, in noradrenergic neurons when MAO is inhibited. Tyramine, which is found in cheese and certain other foods (particularly fermented food products and dried meats), is normally metabolised by MAO in the gut wall and liver and so little ever reaches the systemic circulation. MAOIs, by inactivating this enzymic shield, enable tyramine to reach the bloodstream and eventually to be taken up by the monoamine transporters on serotonergic and noradrenergic neurons. Fike amphetamine, tyramine reduces the pH gradient across the vesicle membrane which, in turn, causes the vesicular transporter to fail. Transmitter that leaks out of the vesicles into the neuronal cytosol cannot be metabolised because... 

Besides this purported action on DAT, amphetamine has also been suggested to act upon the vesicular transporter as well. Pifl et al.87 examined COS cells transfected with cDNA for either DAT or the vesicular transporter, or both. A marked increase in DA release was noted in cells that expressed both DAT and the vesicular transporter when compared to the release from cells that express only DAT or the vesicular transporter. The mechanism of action for amphetamine was further defined with the work of Giros et al.59 In transgenic mice lacking the DAT, amphetamine did not produce hyperlocomotion or release DA. 

In summary, the DAT appears to be the primary site of action for amphetamine-induced DA release via its activity on the DAT because amphetamine appears to employ DAT to transport DA out of the neuron while, at the same time, amphetamine may be sequestered in the neuron. The sequestered amphetamine then may release vesicular DA by altering vesicular pH or via interactions with the vesicular transporter. 

Rostene, W., Boja, J.W., Scherman, D., Carroll, F.I., and Kuhar, M.J., Dopamine transport pharmacological distinction between the synaptic membrane and vesicular transporter in rat striatum, Eur. J. Pharmacol., 281, 175, 1992. 

Lipids are transported between membranes. As indicated above, lipids are often biosynthesized in one intracellular membrane and must be transported to other intracellular compartments for membrane biogenesis. Because lipids are insoluble in water, special mechanisms must exist for the inter- and intracellular transport of membrane lipids. Vesicular trafficking, cytoplasmic transfer-exchange proteins and direct transfer across membrane contacts can transport lipids from one membrane to another. The best understood of such mechanisms is vesicular transport, wherein the lipid molecules are sorted into membrane vesicles that bud out from the donor membrane and travel to and then fuse with the recipient membrane. The well characterized transport of plasma cholesterol into cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis is a useful model of this type of lipid transport. [9, 20]. A brain specific transporter for cholesterol has been identified (see Chapter 5). It is believed that transport of cholesterol from the endoplasmic reticulum to other membranes and of glycolipids from the Golgi bodies to the plasma membrane is mediated by similar mechanisms. The transport of phosphoglycerides is less clearly understood. Recent evidence suggests that net phospholipid movement between subcellular membranes may occur via specialized zones of apposition, as characterized for transfer of PtdSer between mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum [21]. 

How the Golgi apparatus maintains its polarized structure while molecules move from one compartment to another is still a matter of debate. Two models were originally proposed based on different experimental evidence (Fig. 9-5) the vesicular transport model and the cisternal maturation model. A third model known as the dual transport model combines elements from both vesicular transport and cisternal maturation models and can better explain intra-Golgi transport. 

In the vesicular transport model, individual cisternae represent static structures [38]. Cargo is transported through the Golgi in the form of transport vesicles, which bud from one cisterna and fuse with the next. The vesicular transport model is consistent with the... 

N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive Trimeric ATPase required for in vitro membrane fusion during vesicular transport. Probably function as factor (NSF) chaperones in synaptic vesicle recycling. 

FIGURE 13-6 The substituted amphetamine fenfluramine inhibits the transport of 5-HT by both (A) the vesicular transporter, and (B) the serotonin transporter (SERT). Substituted amphetamines such as fenfluramine and MDMA stimulate the release of 5-HT from serotonergic terminals. These drugs block the vesicular transporter and disrupt the proton gradient across the vesicle membrane. The increase in intracellular 5-HT favors the release of 5-HT by the reverse action of the SERT. These drugs also act as substrates for the SERT so as to inhibit the transport of 5-HT into cells. 

---