Lai Kwok-On, Ip Nancy Y
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Neuroscience Center and Biotechnology Research Institute, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2009 Jun;19(3):275-83. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2009.04.009. Epub 2009 Jun 3.
The receptor tyrosine kinase Eph and its membrane-bound ligand ephrin are emerging key players in synapse formation and plasticity in the central nervous system. Understanding how ephrin/Eph regulate synapse formation and functions is often complicated by the fact that both ligands and receptors are expressed in the pre-synaptic and post-synaptic neurons and upon their interaction, bi-directional signaling cascades can be triggered. By elucidating the respective downstream targets and generating signaling-deficient mutants, the specific roles of forward (Eph receptor) and reverse (ephrin) signaling are beginning to be unraveled. In this review, we summarize recent advances in our understanding of how ephrin and Eph differentially participate in specific aspects of synapse formation in developing neurons, and activity-dependent plasticity in the adult brain.
受体酪氨酸激酶Eph及其膜结合配体ephrin正在成为中枢神经系统突触形成和可塑性的关键参与者。由于配体和受体都在前突触和后突触神经元中表达，并且它们相互作用时会触发双向信号级联反应，因此了解ephrin/Eph如何调节突触形成和功能通常很复杂。通过阐明各自的下游靶点并生成信号缺陷型突变体，正向（Eph受体）和反向（ephrin）信号传导的具体作用开始被揭示。在这篇综述中，我们总结了最近在理解ephrin和Eph如何分别参与发育中神经元突触形成的特定方面以及成人大脑活动依赖性可塑性方面取得的进展。
