image: STX209 corrects altered neuron morphology in fragile X. The photograph on the left illustrates a specialized type of brain cell (a cortical pyramidal neuron) that plays a critical role in learning and cognition. Cortical pyramidal neurons have thousands of bulbous spines protruding from the dendrites that receive synapses conveying sensory information. The three illustrations on the right are tracings of dendrites taken at higher magnification to allow visualization of individual spines (marked by the red dots). Neurons from fragile X mice have an altered anatomy, with a higher density of spines, and this is corrected by treatment with the GABAB agonist STX209 (arbaclofen). [Scale bar = 10 µm on left panel and 1.5 µm on others.] This image relates to a paper that appeared in the September 19, 2012, issue of Science Translational Medicine, published by AAAS. The paper, by Christina Henderson at Seaside Therapeutics, Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., and colleagues was titled, "Reversal of Disease-Related Pathologies in the Fragile X Mouse Model by Selective Activation of GABAB Receptors with Arbaclofen." view more
Credit: Illustration courtesy of Professor Peter Kind, University of Edinburgh.