Figure 7. Model depicting a synapse transitioning from resting state to early‐ and late‐fusion states.

Tethering and connectivity changes upon synapse stimulation are depicted. Proximal non‐triple‐tethered vesicles (black proximal SVs) gain additional tethers, and some of them become triple tethered (yellow SVs) shortly after stimulation. Primed vesicles then fuse with the plasma membrane (late fusion) and leave an empty space in the AZ cytoplasm. The number of connectors (depicted in blue) per proximal SV decreases in late‐fusion tripled‐tethered vesicles. The red arrow shows a vesicle initially located in the intermediate region, which diffuses to the proximal region in the late‐fusion state. Tethers are shown in green.