| First Author | Meng X | Year | 2019 |
| Journal | Elife | Volume | 8 |
| PubMed ID | 31524598 | Mgi Jnum | J:278920 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6360591 | Doi | 10.7554/eLife.46773 |
| Citation | Meng X, et al. (2019) Neurexophilin4 is a selectively expressed alpha-neurexin ligand that modulates specific cerebellar synapses and motor functions. Elife 8:e46773 |
| abstractText | Neurexophilins are secreted neuropeptide-like glycoproteins, and neurexophilin1 and neurexophilin3 are ligands for the presynaptic cell adhesion molecule alpha-neurexin. Neurexophilins are more selectively expressed in the brain than alpha-neurexins, however, which led us to ask whether neurexophilins modulate the function of alpha-neurexin in a context-specific manner. We characterized the expression and function of neurexophilin4 in mice and found it to be expressed in subsets of neurons responsible for feeding, emotion, balance, and movement. Deletion of Neurexophilin4 caused corresponding impairments, most notably in motor learning and coordination. We demonstrated that neurexophilin4 interacts with alpha-neurexin and GABAARs in the cerebellum. Loss of Neurexophilin4 impaired cerebellar Golgi-granule inhibitory neurotransmission and synapse number, providing a partial explanation for the motor learning and coordination deficits observed in the Neurexophilin4 null mice. Our data illustrate how selectively expressed Neurexophilin4, an alpha-neurexin ligand, regulates specific synapse function and modulates cerebellar motor control. |
