Functional Inhibition of Katanin Affects Synaptic Plasticity.

Dynamic microtubules critically regulate synaptic functions, but the role of microtubule severing in these processes is barely understood. Katanin is a neuronally expressed microtubule-severing complex regulating microtubule number and length in cell division or neurogenesis; however, its potential role in synaptic functions has remained unknown. Studying mice from both sexes, we found that katanin is abundant in neuronal dendrites and can be detected at individual excitatory spine synapses.

Interleukin-13 and its receptor are synaptic proteins involved in plasticity and neuroprotection.

Immune system molecules are expressed by neurons, yet their functions are often unknown. We have identified IL-13 and its receptor IL-13Ra1 as neuronal, synaptic proteins in mouse, rat, and human brains, whose engagement upregulates the phosphorylation of NMDAR and AMPAR subunits and, in turn, increases synaptic activity and CREB-mediated transcription. We demonstrate that increased IL-13 is a hallmark of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in male mice as well as in two distinct cohorts of human patients.