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Neuroscience

Promiscuous vesicles

Nature volume 490, pages 178–179 (2012)Cite this article

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The unexpected finding that neurons can co-release two neurotransmitter molecules, dopamine and GABA, through a common mechanism provides a further advance in our understanding of the nervous system. See Letter p.262

The striatum, a part of the brain that regulates motivation, reward responses, feeding and movement, integrates signals from other brain regions such as the substantia nigra and the ventral tegmental area. The inputs from these two regions arrive through nerve fibres that release dopamine, a neurotransmitter molecule that modulates neuronal activity by means of a slow-acting process. However, on page 262 of this issue, Tritsch et al.1 report that these modulatory neurons can also induce a rapid, short-lasting inhibition of striatal neurons by releasing another neurotransmitter, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Surprisingly, the authors found that this GABA-mediated effect was dependent on the protein VMAT2, which is required for dopamine secretion, rather than on VGAT, a protein that was thought to be needed for GABA release.

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Figure 1: Two messages in one parcel.

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  1. John T. Williams is at the Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, Oregon 97239, USA.,

    John T. Williams

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  1. John T. Williams
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Correspondence to John T. Williams.

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Williams, J. Promiscuous vesicles. Nature 490, 178–179 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/490178a

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