Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Commons^™

Endocytosis And The Nitric Oxide-Dependent Release Of Chloride, Vernon K. Dunn Jr

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding the regulation of retinal synapses is a key step in elucidating the processing of information in the retina. Our lab has previously shown that nitric oxide (NO) can alter the synaptic response properties of amacrine cells by releasing Cl- from internal acidic compartments. This alteration in the Cl- gradient brings about a positive shift in the reversal potential of the GABA-gated current, which can convert inhibitory synapses into excitatory synapses. Recently, we have shown that the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) Cl- channel is involved in the Cl- release. Here, we test the hypothesis that (acidic) synaptic vesicles are …