title: Extracellular Osmotic Stress Reduces the Vesicle Size while Keeping a Constant Neurotransmitter Concentration.
abstract: Secretory cells respond to hypertonic stress by cell shrinking, which causes a reduction in exocytosis activity and the amount of signaling molecules released from single exocytosis events. These changes in exocytosis have been suggested to result from alterations in biophysical properties of cell cytoplasm and plasma membrane, based on the assumption that osmotic stress does not affect the secretory vesicle content and size prior to exocytosis. To further investigate whether vesicles in secretory cells are affected by the osmolality of the extracellular environment, we used intracellular electrochemical cytometry together with transmission electron microscopy imaging to quantify and determine the catecholamine concentration of dense core vesicles in situ before and after cell exposure to osmotic stress. In addition, single cell amperometry recordings of exocytosis at chromaffin cells were used to monitor the effect on exocytosis activity and quantal release when cells were exposed to osmotic stress. Here we show that hypertonic stress hampers exocytosis secretion after the first pool of readily releasable vesicles have been fused and that extracellular osmotic stress causes catecholamine filled vesicles to shrink, mainly by reducing the volume of the halo solution surrounding the protein matrix in dense core vesicles. In addition, the vesicles demonstrate the ability to perform adjustments in neurotransmitter content during shrinking, and intracellular amperometry measurements in situ suggest that vesicles reduce the catecholamine content to maintain a constant concentration within the vesicle compartment. Hence, the secretory vesicles in the cell cytoplasm are highly affected and respond to extracellular osmotic stress, which gives a new perspective to the cause of reduction in quantal size by these vesicles when undergoing exocytosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology , 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Hoda
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fathali
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology , 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dunevall
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Gothenburg , 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Soodabeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Majdi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology , 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ann-Sofie
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3059-2399
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Cans
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000378:metabolism; D002417:Cattle; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D019439:Chromaffin Cells / Q000187:drug effects*; D022162:Cytoplasmic Vesicles / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007980:Levodopa / Q000494:pharmacology; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D009997:Osmotic Pressure; D012462:Saline Solution, Hypertonic / Q000494:pharmacology; D022142:Secretory Vesicles / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002395:Catecholamines; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents; D012462:Saline Solution, Hypertonic; D007980:Levodopa
keywords: Osmotic stress; amperometry; catecholamine concentration; chromaffin cell; dense core vesicle; exocytosis; transmission electron microscopy; vesicle size