Hippocampal Neuron and Dendrites (IMAGE)

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Hippocampal Neuron and Dendrites

Caption

False color image of a mouse hippocampal neuron (cell body is at lower right) with branchlike dendrites that provide surfaces at which projections from other neurons can connect, by forming synapses. Van Aelst and colleagues have shown that when the OPHN1 protein is mutated, interfering with its ability to interact with another protein called Homer1b/c, AMPA receptors don't recycle to the surface at synapses at the rate they normally do. This adversely impacts synaptic plasticity, the process by which neurons adjust the strength of their connections. Such pathology may play a role in X-linked mental retardation.

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Van Aelst Laboratory, CSHL

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