Examining Hippocampal Mossy Fiber Synapses by 3D Electron Microscopy in Wildtype and Kirrel3 Knockout Mice.

ABSTRACT: Neural circuits balance excitatory and inhibitory activity and disruptions in this balance are commonly found in neurodevelopmental disorders. Mice lacking the intellectual disability and autism-associated gene Kirrel3 have an excitation-inhibition imbalance in the hippocampus but the precise synaptic changes underlying this functional defect are unknown. Kirrel3 is a homophilic adhesion molecule expressed in dentate gyrus (DG) and GABA neurons. It was suggested that the excitation-inhibition imbalance of hippocampal neurons in Kirrel3 knockout mice is due to loss of mossy fiber (MF) filopodia, which are DG axon protrusions thought to excite GABA neurons and thereby provide feed-forward inhibition to CA3 pyramidal neurons. Fewer filopodial structures were observed in Kirrel3 knockout mice

SUBMITTER: Martin EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5490256 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature