Electrochemical Monitoring of Real-Time Vesicle Dynamics Induced by Tau in a Confined Nanopipette.

The microtubule-associated protein tau participates in neurotransmission regulation via its interaction with synaptic vesicles (SVs). The precise nature and mechanics of tau's engagement with SVs, especially regarding alterations in vesicle dynamics, remain a matter of discussion. We report an electrochemical method using a synapse-mimicking nanopipette to monitor vesicle dynamics induced by tau. A model vesicle of ~30 nm is confined within a lipid-modified nanopipette orifice with a comparable diameter to mimic the synaptic lipid environment. Both tau and phosphorylated tau (p-tau) present two-state dynamic behavior in this biomimetic system, showing typical ionic current oscillation, induced by lipid-tau interaction. The results indicate that p-tau has a stronger affinity to the lipid vesicles in the confined environment, blocking the vesicle movement to a higher degree. Taken together, this method bridges a gap for sensing synaptic vesicle dynamics in a confined lipid environment, mimicking vesicle movement near the synaptic membrane. These findings contribute to understanding how different types of tau protein regulate synaptic vesicle motility and to underlying its functional and pathological behaviours in disease.

Omega-3 and -6 Fatty Acids Alter the Membrane Lipid Composition and Vesicle Size to Regulate Exocytosis and Storage of Catecholamines.

The two essential fatty acids, alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid, and the higher unsaturated fatty acids synthesized from them are critical for the development and maintenance of normal brain functions. Deficiencies of these fatty acids have been shown to cause damage to the neuronal development, cognition, and locomotor function. We combined electrochemistry and imaging techniques to examine the effects of the two essential fatty acids on catecholamine release dynamics and the vesicle content as well as on the cell membrane phospholipid composition to understand how they impact exocytosis and by extension neurotransmission at the single-cell level. Incubation of either of the two fatty acids reduces the size of secretory vesicles and enables the incorporation of more double bonds into the cell membrane structure, resulting in higher membrane flexibility. This subsequently affects proteins regulating the dynamics of the exocytotic fusion pore and thereby affects exocytosis. Our data suggest a possible pathway whereby the two essential fatty acids affect the membrane structure to impact exocytosis and provide a potential treatment for diseases and impairments related to catecholamine signaling.

Emerging Data Processing Methods for Single-Entity Electrochemistry.

Single-entity electrochemistry is a powerful tool that enables the study of electrochemical processes at interfaces and provides insights into the intrinsic chemical and structural heterogeneities of individual entities. Signal processing is a critical aspect of single-entity electrochemical measurements and can be used for data recognition, classification, and interpretation. In this review, we summarize the recent five-year advances in signal processing techniques for single-entity electrochemistry and highlight their importance in obtaining high-quality data and extracting effective features from electrochemical signals, which are generally applicable in single-entity electrochemistry. Moreover, we shed light on electrochemical noise analysis to obtain single-molecule frequency fingerprint spectra that can provide rich information about the ion networks at the interface. By incorporating advanced data analysis tools and artificial intelligence algorithms, single-entity electrochemical measurements would revolutionize the field of single-entity analysis, leading to new fundamental discoveries.

Amperometry and Electron Microscopy show Stress Granules Induce Homotypic Fusion of Catecholamine Vesicles.

An overreactive stress granule (SG) pathway and long-lived, stable SGs formation are thought to participate in the progress of neurodegenerative diseases (NDs). To understand if and how SGs contribute to disorders of neurotransmitter release in NDs, we examined the interaction between extracellular isolated SGs and vesicles. Amperometry shows that the vesicular content increases and dynamics of vesicle opening slow down after vesicles are treated with SGs, suggesting larger vesicles are formed. Data from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) clearly shows that a portion of large dense-core vesicles (LDCVs) with double/multiple cores appear, thus confirming that SGs induce homotypic fusion between LDCVs. This might be a protective step to help cells to survive following high oxidative stress. A hypothetical mechanism is proposed whereby enriched mRNA or protein in the shell of SGs is likely to bind intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) regions of vesicle associated membrane protein (VAMP) driving a disrupted membrane between two closely buddled vesicles to fuse with each other to form double-core vesicles. Our results show that SGs induce homotypic fusion of LDCVs, providing better understanding of how SGs intervene in pathological processes and opening a new direction to investigations of SGs involved neurodegenerative disease.

Quantitative Nanoscale Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (NanoSIMS) Imaging of Individual Vesicles to Investigate the Relation between Fraction of Chemical Release and Vesicle Size.

We used correlative transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) imaging to quantify the contents of subvesicular compartments, and to measure the partial release fraction of 13 C-dopamine in cellular nanovesicles as a function of size. Three modes of exocytosis comprise full release, kiss-and-run, and partial release. The latter has been subject to scientific debate, despite a growing amount of supporting literature. We tailored culturing procedures to alter vesicle size and definitively show no size correlation with the fraction of partial release. In NanoSIMS images, vesicle content was indicated by the presence of isotopic dopamine, while vesicles which underwent partial release were identified by the presence of an 127 I-labelled drug, to which they were exposed during exocytosis allowing entry into the open vesicle prior to its closing again. Demonstration of similar partial release fractions indicates that this mode of exocytosis is predominant across a wide range of vesicle sizes.

Single Exosome Amperometric Measurements Reveal Encapsulation of Chemical Messengers for Intercellular Communication.

In multicellular organisms, cells typically communicate by sending and receiving chemical signals. Chemical messengers involved in the exocytosis of neuroendocrine cells or neurons are generally assumed to only originate from the fusing of intracellular large dense core vesicles (LDCVs) or synaptic vesicles with the cellular membrane following stimulation. Accumulated evidence suggests that exosomes─one of the main extracellular vesicles (EVs)─carrying cell-dependent DNA, mRNA, proteins, etc., play an essential role in cellular communication. Due to experimental limitations, it has been difficult to monitor the real-time release of individual exosomes; this restricts a comprehensive understanding of the basic molecular mechanisms and the functions of exosomes. In this work, we introduce amperometry with microelectrodes to capture the dynamic release of single exosomes from a single living cell, distinguish them from other EVs, and differentiate the molecules inside exosomes and those secreted from LDCVs. We show that, similar to many LDCVs and synaptic vesicles, exosomes released by neuroendocrine cells also contain catecholamine transmitters. This finding reveals a different mode of chemical communication via exosome-encapsulated chemical messengers and a potential interconnection between the two release pathways, changing the canonical view of exocytosis of neuroendocrine cells and possibly neurons. This defines a new mechanism for chemical communication at the fundamental level and opens new avenues in the research of the molecular biology of exosomes in the neuroendocrine and central nervous systems.

Hofmeister Series: From Aqueous Solution of Biomolecules to Single Cells and Nanovesicles.

Hofmeister effects play a critical role in numerous physicochemical and biological phenomena, including the solubility and/or accumulation of proteins, the activities of enzymes, ion transport in biochannels, the structure of lipid bilayers, and the dynamics of vesicle opening and exocytosis. This minireview focuses on how ionic specificity affects the physicochemical properties of biomolecules to regulate cellular exocytosis, vesicular content, and nanovesicle opening. We summarize recent progress in further understanding Hofmeister effects on biomacromolecules and their applications in biological systems. These important steps have increased our understanding of the Hofmeister effects on cellular exocytosis, vesicular content, and nanovesicle opening. Increasing evidence is firmly establishing that the ions along the Hofmeister series play an important role in living organisms that has often been ignored.

Correlative Cellular Mass Spectrometry Imaging and Amperometry Show Dose Dependent Changes in Lipid Composition and Exocytosis.

Aberrant functioning of the proteasome has been associated with crucial pathologic conditions including neurodegeneration. Yet, the complex underlying causes at the cellular level remain unclear and there are conflicting reports of neuroprotective to neurodegenerative effects of proteasomal inhibitors such as lactacystin that are utilised as models for neurodegenerative diseases. The conflicting results may be associated with different dose regimes of lactacystin and hence we have performed a dose dependent study of the effects of lactacystin to identify concurrent changes in the cell membrane lipid profile and the dynamics of exocytosis using a combination of surface sensitive mass spectrometry and single cell amperometry. Significant changes of negatively charged lipids were associated with different lactacystin doses that showed a weak correlation with exocytosis while changes in PE and PE-O lipids showed dose dependent changes correlated with initial pore formation and total release of vesicle content respectively.

Characterization of Stress Granule Protein Turnover in Neuronal Progenitor Cells Using Correlative STED and NanoSIMS Imaging.

Stress granules (SGs) are stress-induced biomolecular condensates which originate primarily from inactivated RNA translation machinery and translation initiation factors. SG formation is an important defensive mechanism for cell survival, while its dysfunction has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases. However, the molecular mechanisms of SG assembly and disassembly, as well as their impacts on cellular recovery, are not fully understood. More thorough investigations into the molecular dynamics of SG pathways are required to understand the pathophysiological roles of SGs in cellular systems. Here, we characterize the SG and cytoplasmic protein turnover in neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs) under stressed and non-stressed conditions using correlative STED and NanoSIMS imaging. We incubate NPCs with isotopically labelled (15N) leucine and stress them with the ER stressor thapsigargin (TG). A correlation of STED and NanoSIMS allows the localization of individual SGs (using STED), and their protein turnover can then be extracted based on the 15N/14N ratio (using NanoSIMS). We found that TG-induced SGs, which are highly dynamic domains, recruit their constituents predominantly from the cytoplasm. Moreover, ER stress impairs the total cellular protein turnover regimen, and this impairment is not restored after the commonly proceeded stress recovery period.

The dynamic nature of exocytosis from large secretory vesicles. A view from electrochemistry and imaging.

In this brief review, we discuss the factors that modulate the quantum size and the kinetics of exocytosis. We also discuss the determinants which motivate the type of exocytosis from the so-called kiss-and-run to full fusion and along the intermediate mode of partial release. Kiss-and-run release comprises the transient opening of a nanometer (approx. 2 nm diameter) fusion pore between vesicle and plasma membrane allowing a small amount of release. Partial release comprises a larger more extended opening of the pore to allow a larger fraction of released vesicle content and is what is observed as normal full release in most electrochemical measurements. Partial release appears to be dominant in dense core vesicles and perhaps synaptic vesicles. The concept of partial release leads to the fraction released as a plastic component of exocytosis. Partial vesicular distension and the kinetics of exocytosis can be modulated by second messengers, physiological modulators, and drugs. This concept adds a novel point of regulation for the exocytotic process.

Advances in nano/microscale electrochemical sensors and biosensors for analysis of single vesicles, a key nanoscale organelle in cellular communication.

The study of subcellular targets and biochemical processes within a living cell is valuable for biological and medical research. Secretory vesicles, one such important intracellular target, are nanoscale lipid structures that are capable of storage, transport, and secretion of, for example, neurotransmitters, hormones, proteins or waste products. Vesicles play an essential role in intercellular communication systems, as they facilitate the release of chemical messaging agents. If deregulated, these communication processes can be a central part in the pathogenesis of some neurodegenerative diseases or diabetes. Generally, due to their nanometer size and intracellular location, the analysis of single vesicles and their content is a great challenge. It requires sensitive techniques, micro/nanoscale tools and sensitive instruments with extreme spatio-temporal resolution. This review focuses on electrochemical sensors to study the biochemistry and quantification of messenger molecules and other species (e.g., reactive oxygen and nitrogen species) stored in organelles, providing new trends and developments in this field. Furthermore, we review the effect of the chemical environment of single cells (e.g., treatment with chemicals, drugs, lipids, and ions) on regulation of the physical and chemical properties of vesicles. Finally, unsolved challenges of and perspectives on vesicle electroanalysis are discussed.

Vesicle Collision Protocols for the Study of Quantum Size and Exocytotic Fraction Released.

We review the methods of vesicle impact electrochemical cytometry, intracellular impact electrochemical cytometry, and single cell amperometry and their application to measuring the storage of neurotransmitters in cellular vesicles. We provide protocols to measure vesicle content, the release of catecholamines, and from there the fraction of transmitter released in each exocytosis event. The focus here has been a combination of methods to evaluate factors related to neuronal function at the cellular level and implications in, for example, cognition.

Direct Acquisition of the Gap Height of Biological Tissue-Electronic Chemical Sensor Interfaces.

Interfacing biological tissues with electronic sensors offers the exciting opportunity to accurately investigate multiple biological processes. Accurate signal collection and application are the foundation of these measurements, but a long-term issue is the signal distortion resulting from the interface gap. The height of the gap is the key characteristic needed to evaluate or model the distortion, but it is difficult to measure. By integrating a pair of nanopores at the electronic sensor plane and measuring the ion conductance between them, we developed a versatile and straightforward strategy to realize the direct cooperative evaluation of the gap height during exocytotic release from adrenal gland tissues. The signaling distortion of this gap has been theoretically evaluated and shows almost no influence on the amperometric recording of exocytosis in a classic "semi-artificial synapse" configuration. This strategy should benefit research concerning various bio/chemical/machine interfaces.

Intracellular Absolute Quantification of Oligonucleotide Therapeutics by NanoSIMS.

Antisense oligonucleotide (ASO)-based therapeutics hold great potential for the treatment of a variety of diseases. Therefore, a better understanding of cellular delivery, uptake, and trafficking mechanisms of ASOs is highly important for early-stage drug discovery. In particular, understanding the biodistribution and quantifying the abundance of ASOs at the subcellular level are needed to fully characterize their activity. Here, we used a combination of electron microscopy and NanoSIMS to assess the subcellular concentrations of a 34S-labeled GalNAc-ASO and a naked ASO in the organelles of primary human hepatocytes. We first cross-validated the method by including a 127I-labeled ASO, finding that the absolute concentration of the lysosomal ASO using two independent labeling strategies gave matching results, demonstrating the strength of our approach. This work also describes the preparation of external standards for absolute quantification by NanoSIMS. For both the 34S and 127I approaches used for our quantification methodology, we established the limit of detection (5 and 2 µM, respectively) and the lower limit of quantification (14 and 5 µM, respectively).

Pore-Opening Dynamics of Single Nanometer Biovesicles at an Electrified Interface.

Release from nanobiovesicles via a pore generated by membrane electroporation at an electrified interface can be monitored by vesicle impact electrochemical cytometry (VIEC) and provides rich information about the various vesicular content transfer processes, including content homeostasis, intraphase content transfer, or the transient fusion of vesicles. These processes are primarily influenced by the vesicular pore-opening dynamics at the electrified interface which has not been disclosed at the single nanobiovesicle level yet. In this work, after simultaneously measuring the size and release dynamics of individual vesicles, we employed a moving mesh-finite element simulation algorithm to reconstruct the accurate pore-opening dynamics of individual vesicles with different sizes during VIEC. We investigated the expansion times and maximal pore sizes as two characteristics of different vesicles. The pore expansion times between nanobiovesicles and pure lipid liposomes were compared, and that of the nanobiovesicles is much longer than that for the liposomes, 2.1 ms vs 0.18 ms, respectively, which reflects the membrane proteins limiting the electroporation process. For the vesicles with different sizes, a positive relationship of pore size (Rp,max) with the vesicle size (Rves) and also their ratio (Rp,max/Rves) versus the vesicle sizes is observed. The mechanism of the pore size determination is discussed and related to the membrane proteins and the vesicle size. This work accurately describes the dynamic pore-opening process of individual vesicles which discloses the heterogeneity in electroporation of different sized vesicles. This should allow us to examine the more complicated vesicular content transfer process between intravesicular compartments.

Dysfunction of vesicular storage in young-onset Parkinson's patient-derived dopaminergic neurons and organoids revealed by single cell electrochemical cytometry.

Electrochemical cytometry based on nano-tip microelectrodes was used to quantify the vesicular storage at the single-cell level in human neurons and midbrain organoids which acted as disease models of young-onset Parkinson's disease (YOPD). Human dopaminergic (DA) neurons and midbrain organoids were derived from an induced pluripotent stem cell line from one YOPD patient. We show a significant deficiency in vesicular catecholamine storage and a slower pore forming process on the surface of the microelectrode in the DA neurons derived from the YOPD patient. The upregulation of α-synuclein in both neurons and organoids derived from the YOPD patient is associated with vesicular storage dysfunction, revealing a correlation between the pathogenesis of YOPD and vesicular chemical storage deficiency, a novel chemical insight into the potential pathology of YOPD. Notably, efficacy evaluation and drug testing were performed with our platform to demonstrate that both amantadine, a clinical drug for Parkinson's disease (PD), and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, an attractive candidate, ameliorate the dysfunction of vesicular storage in DA neurons derived from the YOPD patient. Our platform offers promising avenues for new drug discovery for PD and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Anionic Species Regulate Chemical Storage in Nanometer Vesicles and Amperometrically Detected Exocytotic Dynamics.

Hofmeister effects have often been ignored in living organisms, although they affect the activity and functions of biological molecules. Herein, amperometry has been applied to show that the vesicular content, dynamics of exocytosis and vesicles opening, depend on the anionic species treatment. Compared to 100 µM Cl- treated chromaffin cells, a similar number of catecholamine molecules is released after chaotropic anions (ClO4- and SCN-) treatment, even though the vesicular catecholamine content significantly increases, suggesting a lower release fraction. In addition, there are opposite effects on the dynamics of vesicles release (shorter duration) and vesicle opening (longer duration) for chaotropic anions treated cells. Our results show anion-dependent vesicle release, vesicle opening, and vesicular content, providing understanding of the pharmacological and pathological processes induced by inorganic ions.

Single-Vesicle Electrochemistry Following Repetitive Stimulation Reveals a Mechanism for Plasticity Changes with Iron Deficiency.

Deficiency of iron, the most abundant transition metal in the brain and important for neuronal activity, is known to affect synaptic plasticity, causing learning and memory deficits. How iron deficiency impacts plasticity by altering neurotransmission at the cellular level is not fully understood. We used electrochemical methods to study the effect of iron deficiency on plasticity with repetitive stimulation. We show that during iron deficiency, repetitive stimulation causes significant decrease in exocytotic release without changing vesicular content. This results in a lower fraction of release, opposite to the control group, upon repetitive stimulation. These changes were partially reversible by iron repletion. This finding suggests that iron deficiency has a negative effect on plasticity by decreasing the fraction of vesicular release in response to repetitive stimulation. This provides a putative mechanism for how iron deficiency modulates plasticity.

Concentration of stimulant regulates initial exocytotic molecular plasticity at single cells.

Activity-induced synaptic plasticity has been intensively studied, but is not yet well understood. We examined the temporal and concentration effects of exocytotic molecular plasticity during and immediately after chemical stimulation (30 s K+ stimulation) via single cell amperometry. Here the first and the second 15 s event periods from individual event traces were compared. Remarkably, we found that the amount of catecholamine release and release dynamics depend on the stimulant concentration. No changes were observed at 10 mM K+ stimulation, but changes observed at 30 and 50 mM (i.e., potentiation, increased number of molecules) were opposite to those at 100 mM (i.e., depression, decreased number of events), revealing changes in exocytotic plasticity based on the concentration of the stimulant solution. These results show that molecular changes initiating exocytotic plasticity can be regulated by the concentration strength of the stimulant solution. These different effects on early plasticity offer a possible link between stimulation intensity and synaptic (or adrenal) plasticity.

Simultaneous Counting of Molecules in the Halo and Dense-Core of Nanovesicles by Regulating Dynamics of Vesicle Opening.

We report the discovery that in the presence of chaotropic anions (SCN- ) the opening of nanometer biological vesicles at an electrified interface often becomes a two-step process (around 30 % doublet peaks). We have then used this to independently count molecules in each subvesicular compartment, the halo and protein dense-core, and the fraction of catecholamine binding to the dense-core is 68 %. Moreover, we differentiated two distinct populations of large dense-core vesicles (LDCVs) and quantified their content, which might correspond to immature (43 %) and mature (30 %) LDCVs, to reveal differences in their biogenesis. We speculate this is caused by an increase in the electrostatic attraction between protonated catecholamine and the negatively charged dense-core following adsorption of SCN- .