Presynaptic Nerve Terminal Simulation

In this simulated presynaptic terminal of a nerve cell, synaptic vesicles (green) bind with synapsins (blue) to form clusters. Docking sites (red) fix vesicles to the active zone at the bottom of the membrane, eventually attracting a large cluster. Action potentials occur at 0:55, 1:15, and 1:35, causing vesicles to fuse with the membrane (shown as vesicles escaping the compartment). Many synapsins separate from the vesicles during the action potentials, but the cluster remains intact. More information on tethered particle system models like this one can be found at

http://cell-devs.sce.carleton.ca/publications/?author=&title=&year=-1...

and

http://www.rhysgoldstein.com/Carleton/

and

http://cell-devs.sce.carleton.ca/ars

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• simulation
• presynaptic
• neuron
• nerve
• cell
• vesicle
• synapsin
• action
• potential
• exocytosis
• DEVS
• CD++
• ARS
• Carleton University
• Math
• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Biology