| First Author | Chubykin AA | Year | 2007 |
| Journal | Neuron | Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 6 | Pages | 919-31 |
| PubMed ID | 17582332 | Mgi Jnum | J:138036 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3803801 | Doi | 10.1016/j.neuron.2007.05.029 |
| Citation | Chubykin AA, et al. (2007) Activity-dependent validation of excitatory versus inhibitory synapses by neuroligin-1 versus neuroligin-2. Neuron 54(6):919-31 |
| abstractText | Neuroligins enhance synapse formation in vitro, but surprisingly are not required for the generation of synapses in vivo. We now show that in cultured neurons, neuroligin-1 overexpression increases excitatory, but not inhibitory, synaptic responses, and potentiates synaptic NMDAR/AMPAR ratios. In contrast, neuroligin-2 overexpression increases inhibitory, but not excitatory, synaptic responses. Accordingly, deletion of neuroligin-1 in knockout mice selectively decreases the NMDAR/AMPAR ratio, whereas deletion of neuroligin-2 selectively decreases inhibitory synaptic responses. Strikingly, chronic inhibition of NMDARs or CaM-Kinase II, which signals downstream of NMDARs, suppresses the synapse-boosting activity of neuroligin-1, whereas chronic inhibition of general synaptic activity suppresses the synapse-boosting activity of neuroligin-2. Taken together, these data indicate that neuroligins do not establish, but specify and validate, synapses via an activity-dependent mechanism, with different neuroligins acting on distinct types of synapses. This hypothesis reconciles the overexpression and knockout phenotypes and suggests that neuroligins contribute to the use-dependent formation of neural circuits. |
