Cholinergic synaptic vesicles are metabolically and biophysically heterogeneous even in resting terminals.

The metabolic heterogeneity of synaptic vesicles in the cholinergic nerve terminals of the electromotor neurons ofTorpedp marmoratta has been studied in resting tissue by evaluating the molecular acetylcholine content (MAC) of synaptic vesicles after vesicles extraction from frozen and crushed tissue and high-resolution centrifugal density gradient separation in a zonal rotor. Although vesicular acetylcholine was distributed in the gradient as a single, more or less symmetrical peak, 3 subpopulations of synaptic vesicles could be identified: a small, relatively light subpopulation of low MAC on the ascending limb of the acetylcholine peak, designated V0, a main population of fully charged vesicles designated V1, and a small, denser subpopulation also of low MAC on the descending limb of the acetylcholine peak, designated V2. The mean proportions and MACs of the 3 pools were: V0, 13%, 58,00; V1, 53%, 246,000; V2, 34%, 79,000. When triated acetate was perfused through excised blocks of electric organ for 1–2 h before vesicle isolation, the specific radioactivity of thr acetylcholine in the V0 and V2 pools was 10–30 times higher than in the V1 pool. This suggest that both the V0 and V2 pools are not generated by the isolation procedure but are present in the intact endings and are functionally active. On the basis of their density and uptake of newly synthesized acetylcholine, the V0 and V2 pools were identified with the previously described VP0 pool of axonal vesicles and the VP2 pool of recycling vesicles in stimulated nerve terminals respectively. Since stimulation of electromotor nerve terminals is known to generate large proportions VP2 vesicles, variations in the proportion of V2 vesicles in unstimulated tissue are attributed to varying amounts of adventitous stimulation of the tissue during dissection and perfussion

Characterization, by size, density, osmotic fragility, and immunoaffinity, of acetylcholine- and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-containing storage particles from myenteric neurones of the guinea-pig.

Abstract: When cytoplasmic extracts of guinea-pig myenteric neurones are submitted to centrifugal density gradient fractionation in a zonal rotor acetylcholine is bimodally distributed in the gradient, in a peak (I) rich in synaptic vesicles of the classic type and in a denser peak (II/VI) rich in densecored vesicles and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP). The putative stable synaptic vesicle markers synaptophysin (p38), vesicular proteoglycan, and Mg2+-activated ATPase were also bimodally distributed, with a peak coincident with peak I and another, broader peak embracing peak II/VI, and neighbouring peaks of other neuropeptides resolved from peak II/VI by the density gradient separation procedure used. To establish whether the stable markers, acetylcholine and VIP in peak II/VI were present in one particle or several, attempts were made to separate them by particle-exclusion chromatography and differential osmotic fragility. These were unsuccessful, leading us to conclude that the storage particles in peak II/VI contain both neurotransmitters and all three putative stable synaptic vesicle markers. It is suggested that such particles are the counterparts, in cholinergic neurones of the myenteric plexus, of the dense-cored, enkephalin- and noradrenaline-containing vesicles of certain adrenergic neurones and, like the latter, may exist in a precursor–product relationship with the classic synaptic vesicles containing the small-molecular-mass transmitters and found in the same nerve terminals

On the instability of classical dynamics in theories with higher derivatives

The development of instability in the dynamics of theories with higher derivatives is traced in detail in the framework of the Pais-Uhlenbeck fourth oder oscillator. For this aim the external friction force is introduced in the model and the relevant solutions to equations of motion are investigated. As a result, the physical implication of the energy unboundness from below in theories under consideration is revealed.Comment: 9 pages, no figures and no tables, revtex4; a few misprints are correcte

The AdS_5xS^5 superstring worldsheet S-matrix and crossing symmetry

An S-matrix satisying the Yang-Baxter equation with symmetries relevant to the AdS_5xS^5 superstring has recently been determined up to an unknown scalar factor. Such scalar factors are typically fixed using crossing relations, however due to the lack of conventional relativistic invariance, in this case its determination remained an open problem. In this paper we propose an algebraic way to implement crossing relations for the AdS_5xS^5 superstring worldsheet S-matrix. We base our construction on a Hopf-algebraic formulation of crossing in terms of the antipode and introduce generalized rapidities living on the universal cover of the parameter space which is constructed through an auxillary, coupling constant dependent, elliptic curve. We determine the crossing transformation and write functional equations for the scalar factor of the S-matrix in the generalized rapidity plane.Comment: 27 pages, no figures; v2: sign typo fixed in (24), everything else unchange

Confirmation of the cholinergic specificity of the Chol-1 gangliosides in mammalian brain using affinity-purified antisera and lesions affecting the cholinergic input to the hippocampus.

An antiserum raised to Torpedo electromotor synaptosomal membranes (anti-TSM antiserum) induces a cho-linergic-specific immune lysis of mammalian brain synap-tosomes and recognizes a group of minor gangliosides in mammalian brain. These minor gangliosides appeared, therefore, to be specific to the cholinergic neuron and were designated Chol-1. To confirm the cholinergic specificity of the Chol-1 gangliosidic antigens, we have shown that not only does a mammalian ganglioside fraction that is enriched with respect to the Chol-1 gangliosides inhibit the cholinergic-specific immune lysis induced by the anti-TSM antiserum, but also it can be used to affinity-purify a subpopulation of immunoglobulins from the anti-TSM antiserum that also induce a cholinergic-specific lysis. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that fimbrial lesions, which cause a massive degeneration of cholinergic terminals in the ipsilateral hippocampus, lead to a loss of the Chol-1 gangliosides concomitant with that shown by choline acetyl transferase activity and that lesions to the entorhinal cortex, which cause a loss of mainly glutamergic synapses in the ipsilateral dentate gyrus leading to cholinergic sprouting from adjacent hippocampal areas and an increase in cholinergic markers in the dentate gyrus, produce concomitant increases in choline acetyltransferase activity and Chol-1 content. These results provide strong evidence in favour of the cholinergic specificity of the Chol-1 ganglioside

On higher genus Weierstrass sigma-function

The goal of this paper is to propose a new way to generalize the Weierstrass sigma-function to higher genus Riemann surfaces. Our definition of the odd higher genus sigma-function is based on a generalization of the classical representation of the elliptic sigma-function via Jacobi theta-function. Namely, the odd higher genus sigma-function $\sigma_{\chi}(u)$ (for u\in \C^g) is defined as a product of the theta-function with odd half-integer characteristic $\beta^{\chi}$, associated with a spin line bundle $\chi$, an exponent of a certain bilinear form, the determinant of a period matrix and a power of the product of all even theta-constants which are non-vanishing on a given Riemann surface. We also define an even sigma-function corresponding to an arbitrary even spin structure. Even sigma-functions are constructed as a straightforward analog of a classical formula relating even and odd sigma-functions. In higher genus the even sigma-functions are well-defined on the moduli space of Riemann surfaces outside of a subspace defined by vanishing of the corresponding even theta-constant.Comment: to be published in Physica