Birdsall Veronica, Waites Clarissa L
Neurobiology and Behavior Graduate Program, Columbia University, United States.
Department of Pathology & Cell Biology, Columbia University Medical Center, United States; Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, United States.
Neurosci Lett. 2019 Apr 1;697:24-28. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2018.05.033. Epub 2018 May 23.
As the sites of communication between neurons, synapses depend upon precisely regulated protein-protein interactions to support neurotransmitter release and reception. Moreover, neuronal synapses typically exist great distances (i.e. up to meters) away from cell bodies, which are the sources of new proteins and the major sites of protein degradation via lysosomes. Thus, synapses are uniquely sensitive to disruptions in proteostasis, and depend upon carefully orchestrated degradative mechanisms for the clearance of dysfunctional proteins. One of the primary cellular degradative pathways is macroautophagy, hereafter referred to as 'autophagy'. Although it has only recently become a focus of research in synaptic biology, emerging studies indicate that autophagy has essential functions at the synapse throughout an organism's lifetime. This review will discuss recent findings about the roles of synaptic autophagy, as well as some of the questions and issues to be considered in this field moving forward.
作为神经元之间的通讯位点，突触依赖于精确调控的蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用来支持神经递质的释放和接收。此外，神经元突触通常距离细胞体很远（即可达数米），而细胞体是新蛋白质的来源以及通过溶酶体进行蛋白质降解的主要位点。因此，突触对蛋白质稳态的破坏特别敏感，并依赖精心编排的降解机制来清除功能失调的蛋白质。细胞主要的降解途径之一是巨自噬，以下简称为“自噬”。尽管它直到最近才成为突触生物学研究的焦点，但新出现的研究表明，自噬在生物体的整个生命周期中对突触都具有重要功能。本综述将讨论关于突触自噬作用的最新发现，以及该领域未来需要考虑的一些问题。
