Matsunaga Eiji, Kurotani Tohru, Suzuki Kenta, Okanoya Kazuo
Laboratory for Biolinguistics, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako, Japan.
Neuroreport. 2011 Sep 14;22(13):629-32. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e3283491665.
Cadherins, cell adhesion molecules widely expressed in the nervous system, are thought to be involved in synapse formation and function. To explore the role of cadherins in neuronal activity, we performed electrophysiological and morphological analyses of rat hippocampal cultured neurons overexpressing type-II cadherins, such as cadherin-6B and cadherin-7. We found that cadherin-6B increased but cadherin-7 decreased the number of protrusions of dendritic spines, and affected the frequency of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents. Our results suggest that type-II cadherins may modulate neural activity by regulating neuronal morphology.
钙黏蛋白是广泛表达于神经系统的细胞黏附分子，被认为参与突触的形成和功能。为了探究钙黏蛋白在神经元活动中的作用，我们对过表达II型钙黏蛋白（如钙黏蛋白-6B和钙黏蛋白-7）的大鼠海马培养神经元进行了电生理和形态学分析。我们发现钙黏蛋白-6B增加了树突棘的突起数量，而钙黏蛋白-7则减少了树突棘的突起数量，并影响了微小兴奋性突触后电流的频率。我们的结果表明，II型钙黏蛋白可能通过调节神经元形态来调节神经活动。
