structure and function of mitochondria at presynaptic terminal

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23500403
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Neuroscience in general
• Research Institution: Doshisha University
• Principal Investigator: SAITOH Naoto 同志社大学, 生命医科学部, 准教授 (90334226)
• Project Period (FY): 2011 – 2013
• Keywords: ミトコンドリア

Research Abstract

Mitochondrial function is essential for various aspects of living cell. Its morphological feature should be also important for living cell dynamics especially for the energy supply. I focus on the presynaptic mitochondria because presynaptic terminal is the specialized machine in terms of vesicular traffic which is controlled by the activity of neuron. First of all, I checked that presynaptic mitochondria is free moving or not. FCS analysis revealed that nocodazole, famous microtubule disrupting reagent, has affected the presynaptic mitochondrial stability. I conclude that the linking with microtubule might ensure the activity dependency of presynaptic energy supply from the mitochondria. To address this issue, I developed the novel cAMP probe. It can visualize the cAMP dynamics inside the mitochondria. It has been believed that [cAMP]mt is important modulator for electron transport activity. I have proposed the hypothesis that presynaptic activity induce the [cAMP]mt increase, which depend on microtubule platform, then up-regulate ATP production for energy use of synaptic transmission.