The Role of Synaptopodin in Membrane Protein Diffusion in the Dendritic Spine Neck.

ABSTRACT: The dynamic exchange of neurotransmitter receptors at synapses relies on their lateral diffusion in the plasma membrane. At synapses located on dendritic spines this process is limited by the geometry of the spine neck that restricts the passage of membrane proteins. Biochemical compartmentalisation of the spine is believed to underlie the input-specificity of excitatory synapses and to set the scale on which functional changes can occur. Synaptopodin is located predominantly in the neck of dendritic spines, and is thus ideally placed to regulate the exchange of synaptic membrane proteins. The central aim of our study was to assess whether the presence of synaptopodin influences the mobility of membrane proteins in the spine neck and to characterise whether this was due to direct molecular

SUBMITTER: Wang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4739495 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature