Roles of afadin and nectins in synapse formation

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24590354
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: General medical chemistry
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: MANDAI Kenji 神戸大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (50322186)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: シナプス形成 / アファディン / ネクチン / 海馬 / 大脳新皮質 / 中脳水道 / 嗅球 / 分子神経生物学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We investigated the roles of afadin in synapse formation and synaptic functions in the hippocampus. At mossy fiber-CA3 pyramidal cell synapses, afadin was required for the accumulation of the PAJ components, nectin-1, nectin-3 and N-cadherin, and for the accumulation of the presynaptic components, VGLUT1 and bassoon. In addition, afadin regulated pre- and post-synaptic functions in cultured hippocampal excitatory neurons. We also investigated the roles of afadin in the developing brain. In the midbrain, afadin was required for morphogenesis of the cerebral aqueduct, and in the neocortex, afadin was required for the formation of the six-layered laminated architecture by regulating neural migration. Furthermore, we investigated the roles of nectin-1 in the olfactory bulb and showed that nectin-1 constituted a novel adhesion apparatus that tethered mitral cell dendrites in a dendritic meshwork structure of the developing mouse olfactory bulb.

Free Research Field

分子神経生物学