Publication Date:
2000-07-06
Description:
Until now, neurobiologists have had little luck in finding the matchmakers of nerve cell connections, called synapses, in the brain. In today's issue of Cell, researchers report that a single protein can apparently trigger synapse formation between brain neurons isolated from mice and grown in culture. If the finding is borne out in living animals, it could provide fresh insights into how the brain is wired during embryonic development and might eventually provide new ways to enhance or at least maintain synapse formation in the brains of patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gura, T -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2000 Jun 9;288(5472):1718-9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10877681" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Brain/cytology
;
Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal
;
Cells, Cultured
;
Membrane Proteins/analysis/genetics/*metabolism
;
Mice
;
Mice, Knockout
;
Nerve Tissue Proteins/analysis/genetics/*metabolism
;
Neurons/*physiology
;
Synapses/*physiology
;
Synaptic Membranes/chemistry
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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