Department of Neurology, F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2013 Dec;23(6):1034-40. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2013.09.012. Epub 2013 Oct 22.
In the developing nervous system, synaptic connections are formed in excess and must remodel to achieve the precise synaptic connectivity characteristic of the mature organism. Synaptic pruning is a developmental process in which subsets of synapses are eliminated while the remaining synapses are preserved and strengthened. Recent findings have demonstrated unexpected roles for glial cells in this developmental process. These data demonstrate that phagocytic glia engulf synaptic and/or axonal elements in the developing nervous system and disruptions in this process result in sustained deficits in synaptic connectivity. These new findings highlight the importance of glia for nervous system development and function and may shed new light on mechanisms underlying nervous system disease.
在发育中的神经系统中，突触连接过度形成，必须进行重塑，以实现成熟生物体特有的精确突触连接。突触修剪是一个发育过程，在此过程中，部分突触被消除，而其余的突触被保留和加强。最近的发现表明，神经胶质细胞在这个发育过程中起着意想不到的作用。这些数据表明，吞噬性神经胶质细胞在发育中的神经系统中吞噬突触和/或轴突成分，而这一过程的中断会导致突触连接持续缺陷。这些新发现强调了神经胶质细胞对神经系统发育和功能的重要性，并可能为神经系统疾病的机制提供新的线索。
