Following axon pathfinding, growth cones transition from stochastic filopodial exploration to the formation of a limited number of synapses. How the interplay of filopodia and synapse assembly ensures robust connectivity in the brain has remained a challenging problem. Here, we developed a new 4D analysis method for filopodial dynamics and a data-driven computational model of synapse formation for R7 photoreceptor axons in developing Drosophila brains. Our live data support a "serial synapse formation" model, where at any time point only 1-2 "synaptogenic" filopodia suppress the synaptic competence of other filopodia through competition for synaptic seeding factors. Loss of the synaptic seeding factors Syd-1 and Liprin-α leads to a loss of this suppression, filopodial destabilization, and reduced synapse formation. The failure to form synapses can cause the destabilization and secondary retraction of axon terminals. Our model provides a filopodial "winner-takes-all" mechanism that ensures the formation of an appropriate number of synapses.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2019.06.014 | DOI Listing |
CNS Neurosci Ther
January 2025
Department of Anesthesiology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
Aims: The comorbidity of anxiety-like symptoms in neuropathic pain (NP) is a significant yet often overlooked health concern. Anxiety sufferers may have a lower tolerance for pain, but which is difficult to treat. Accumulating evidence suggests a strong link between astrocytes and the manifestation of NP with concurrent anxiety-like behaviors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRev Physiol Biochem Pharmacol
January 2025
Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.
Pre- and post-synaptic events are regulated by liquid-liquid phase separation and this phenomenon requires multiple electrical forces. Both axonal transport and the organization of postsynaptic excitatory and inhibitory receptors are regulated by LLPS, with its mandatory electrical drivers ultimately determining our cognitive health and capacity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706.
Given the influence of cognitive abilities on life outcomes, there is inherent value in identifying genes involved in controlling learning and memory. Further, cognitive dysfunction is a core feature of many neuropsychiatric disorders. Here, we use a combinatory in silico approach to identify human gene targets that will have an especially high likelihood of individually and directly impacting cognition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAddict Biol
January 2025
Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
Morphine dependence or addiction is a serious global public health and social problem, and traditional treatments are very limited. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has emerged as a new potential treatment for drug addiction. Repeated use of morphine leads to neuroadaptive and molecular changes in the addiction-related brain regions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCNS Neurosci Ther
January 2025
Beijing Key Laboratory of Hypoxia Translational Medicine, Xuanwu Hospital, Center of Stroke, Beijing Institute of Brain Disorder, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Objective: Ischemia-reperfusion of the abdominal aorta often results in damage to distant organs, such as the heart and brain. This cellular heterogeneity within affected tissues complicates the roles of specific cell subsets in abdominal aorta occlusion model (AAO) injury. However, cell type-specific molecular pathology in the hippocampus after ischemia is poorly understood.
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