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How do excitatory and inhibitory synapses form between billions of neurons in the brain during development. As Hussain and Sheng discuss in their Perspective, one clue comes from recent work published here (Chih et al.) and elsewhere. Apparently, interactions between proteins called neuroligins and the protein -neurexin help to bring presynaptic and postsynaptic membranes together in the correct alignment, thus enabling formation of synapses.
The authors are at the Picower Center for Learning and Memory, RIKEN-MIT Neuroscience Research Center, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. E-mail: natashah{at}mit.edu, msheng{at}mit.edu
The editors suggest the following Related Resources on Science sites:
Neuroligin-2 Deletion Selectively Decreases Inhibitory Synaptic Transmission Originating from Fast-Spiking but Not from Somatostatin-Positive Interneurons.
J. R. Gibson, K. M. Huber, and T. C. Sudhof (2009)
J. Neurosci.
29, 13883-13897
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Proteomic Analysis of Brain Plasma Membranes Isolated by Affinity Two-phase Partitioning.
J. Schindler, U. Lewandrowski, A. Sickmann, E. Friauf, and H. Gerd Nothwang (2006)
Mol. Cell. Proteomics
5, 390-400
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-neurexin help to bring presynaptic and postsynaptic membranes together in the correct alignment, thus enabling formation of synapses.
