QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online November 18, 2003

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Greasing the way to neurotransmission

Although the membranes of neuronal cells contain precisely controlled amounts of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) and defects in LC-PUFA metabolism are associated with some human neuronal pathologies, exactly how LC-PUFAs are involved in neuronal function is unknown. On p. 4965, Giovanni Lesa et al. remedy this by showing that in C. elegans LC-PUFAs are essential for efficient neurotransmission. In C. elegans, a single 6-desaturase enzyme, encoded by fat3, is essential for LC-PUFA synthesis. fat3 mutant worms have movement and egg-laying defects indicative of neuronal impairment. These defects are functional rather than developmental since treating adult mutant worms with LC-PUFAs rescues the phenotype. Because fat3 mutants release very low amounts of neurotransmitters and have fewer synaptic vesicles than do wild-type worms, the researchers conclude that there are insufficient synaptic vesicles to support normal neurotransmission in these mutants. Additional experiments are now needed to reveal how a LC-PUFA deficit affects synaptic vesicle numbers.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in JCS:

Long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are required for efficient neurotransmission in C. elegans

Giovanni M. Lesa, Mark Palfreyman, David H. Hall, M. Thomas Clandinin, Claudia Rudolph, Erik M. Jorgensen, and Giampietro Schiavo
JCS 2003 116: 4965-4975. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?