AI Article Synopsis
- Synaptopathies are brain disorders caused by dysfunctional synapses, crucial for neuron communication, often due to mutations affecting synaptic proteins.
- Neurexins, a type of cell adhesion protein that connects pre- and post-synaptic compartments, have gained attention for their role in various neuropsychiatric disorders like autism and schizophrenia.
- The review emphasizes the connection between neurexins and both neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases, urging further research on their roles in brain disorders.
Article Abstract
Synaptopathies are brain disorders characterized by dysfunctional synapses, which are specialized junctions between neurons that are essential for the transmission of information. Synaptic dysfunction can occur due to mutations that alter the structure and function of synaptic components or abnormal expression levels of a synaptic protein. One class of synaptic proteins that are essential to their biology are cell adhesion proteins that connect the pre- and post-synaptic compartments. Neurexins are one type of synaptic cell adhesion molecule that have, recently, gained more pathological interest. Variants in both neurexins and their common binding partners, neuroligins, have been associated with several neuropsychiatric disorders. In this review, we summarize some of the key physiological functions of the neurexin protein family and the protein networks they are involved in. Furthermore, examination of published literature has implicated neurexins in both neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. There is a clear link between neurexins and neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. However, multiple expression studies have also shown changes in neurexin expression in several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Therefore, this review highlights the potential importance of neurexins in brain disorders and the importance of doing more targeted studies on these genes and proteins.
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8492176 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsob.210091 | DOI Listing |
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