Electron microscopic morphometry of isolated rat brain porosome complex.

Porosomes are the universal secretory portals at the cell plasma membrane where secretory vesicles dock and transiently fuse via the kiss-and-run mechanism of cellular secretion, to release intravesicular cargo to the outside of the cell. During last two decades discovery of porosome and a great volume of work from different laboratories provide molecular insights on the structure, function, and composition of the porosome complex, especially the neuronal porosome. In rat neurons 12-17 nm cup-shaped lipoprotein porosomes present at presynaptic membrane.

Hypokinetic stress and neuronal porosome complex in the rat brain: the electron microscopic study.

Porosomes are the universal secretory machinery in cells, where membrane-bound secretory vesicles transiently dock and fuse to release intravesicular contents to the outside of the cell during cell secretion. Studies using atomic force microscopy, electron microscopy, electron density and 3D contour mapping, provided rich nanoscale information on the structure and assembly of proteins within the neuronal porosome complex in normal brain. However it remains uncertain whether pathological conditions that alter process of neurotransmission, provoke alterations in the porosome structure also.