Simulating Reversibility of Dense Core Vesicles Capture in En Passant Boutons: Using Mathematical Modeling to Understand the Fate of Dense Core Vesicles in En Passant Boutons

The goal of this paper is to use mathematical modeling to investigate the fate of dense core vesicles (DCVs) captured in en passant boutons located in nerve terminals. One possibility is that all DCVs captured in boutons are destroyed, another possibility is that captured DCVs can escape and reenter the pool of transiting DCVs that move through the boutons, and a third possibility is that some DCVs are destroyed in boutons, while some reenter the transiting pool. We developed a model by applying the conservation of DCVs in various compartments composing the terminal, to predict different scenarios that emerge from the above assumptions about the fate of DCVs captured in boutons. We simulated DCV transport in type Ib and type III terminals. The simulations demonstrate that, if no DCV destruction in boutons is assumed and all captured DCVs reenter the transiting pool, the DCV fluxes evolve to a uniform circulation in a type Ib terminal at steady-state and the DCV flux remains constant from bouton to bouton. Because at steady-state the amount of captured DCVs is equal to the amount of DCVs that reenter the transiting pool, no decay of DCV fluxes occurs. In a type III terminal at steady-state, the anterograde DCV fluxes decay from bouton to bouton, while retrograde fluxes increase. This is explained by a larger capture efficiency of anterogradely moving DCVs than of retrogradely moving DCVs in type III boutons, while the captured DCVs that reenter the transiting pool are assumed ...
Source: Journal of Biomechanical Engineering - Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research