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Victor P. Whittaker: The Discovery of the Synaptosome and Its Implications

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Book cover Synaptosomes

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 141))

Abstract

The isolation of synaptosomes and synaptic vesicles from mammalian brain was a major breakthrough in the study of the cellular and molecular function of the nervous system. It laid the foundations for the present-day molecular biological analysis of all other functional compartments of the synapse. Synaptosomes are still much in use for the study of synaptic transmission. This work was performed at the beginning of the 1960s by Victor P. Whittaker and coworkers at the Agricultural Research Council Institute of Animal Physiology in Babraham, near Cambridge, UK. This chapter describes the history of the discovery of the synaptosome and of synaptic vesicles and its implications and highlights the very personal engagement of Victor Whittaker in this field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Herbert Zimmermann

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  1. Herbert Zimmermann
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Correspondence to Herbert Zimmermann .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Kathryn M. Murphy

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Zimmermann, H. (2018). Victor P. Whittaker: The Discovery of the Synaptosome and Its Implications. In: Murphy, K. (eds) Synaptosomes. Neuromethods, vol 141. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8739-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8739-9_2

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-8738-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-8739-9

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