The Role of NSF in Neurotransmitter Release: A Peptide Microinjection Study at the Crayfish Neuromuscular Junction

Peptides that inhibit the SNAP-stimulated ATPase activity of NSF (NSF-2, NSF-3) were injected intra-axonally to study the role of this protein in the release of glutamate at the crayfish neuromuscular junction. Macropatch recording was used to establish the quantal content and to construct synaptic delay histograms. NSF-2 or NSF-3 injection reduced the quantal content, evoked by either direct depolarization of a single release bouton or by axonal action potentials, on average by 66 + 12% (n=32), but had no effect on the time course of release. NSF-2 had no effect on the amplitude or shape of the presynaptic action potential nor on the excitatory nerve terminal current. Both NSF-2 and NSF-3 did not affect the shape or amplitude of single quantal currents. Injection of a peptide with the same composition as NSF-2, but with a scrambled amino acid sequence failed to alter the quantal content. We conclude that, at the crayfish neuromuscular junction,