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The Amplitude Distribution of Release Events through a Fusion Pore

Stephen W. Jones ^* and David D. Friel 

^* Department of Physiology and Biophysics; and Department of Neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106

Correspondence: Address reprint requests and inquiries to Stephen W. Jones, Tel.: 216-368-5527; E-mail: swj{at}case.edu.

Neurotransmitters, hormones, or dyes may be released from vesicles via a fusion pore, rather than by full fusion of the vesicle with the plasma membrane. If the lifetime of the fusion pore is comparable to the time required for the substance to exit the vesicle, only a fraction of the total vesicle content may be released during a single pore opening. Assuming 1), fusion pore lifetimes are exponentially distributed (_P), as expected for simple single channel openings, and 2), vesicle contents are lost through the fusion pore with an exponential time course (_D), we derive an analytical expression for the probability density function of the fraction of vesicle content released (F): dP/dF = A (1 – F)^(A-1), where A = _D/_P. If A > 1, the maximum of the distribution is at F = 0; if A < 1, the maximum is at F = 1; if A = 1, the distribution is perfectly flat. Thus, the distribution never has a peak in the middle (0 < F < 1). This should be considered when interpreting the distribution of miniature synaptic currents, or the fraction of FM dye molecules lost during a single fusion pore opening event.