Molecular Crowding and Diffusion-Capture in Synapses.

ABSTRACT: Cell membranes often contain domains with important physiological functions. A typical example are neuronal synapses, whose capacity to capture receptors for neurotransmitters is central to neuronal functions. Receptors diffuse in the membrane until they are stabilized by interactions with stable elements, the scaffold. Single particle tracking experiments demonstrated that these interactions are rather weak and that lateral diffusion is strongly impaired in the post-synaptic membrane due to molecular crowding. We investigated how the distribution of scaffolding molecules and molecular crowding affect the capture of receptors. In particle-based Monte Carlo simulations, based on experimental data of molecular diffusion and organization, crowding enhanced the receptor-scaffold interaction bu

SUBMITTER: Kokolaki ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7399191 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature