Publication of the Year 2002
F.M. Inglis, R. Crockett, S. Korada, W.C. Abraham, M. Hollmann, and R.G. Kalb (2002).
The AMPA receptor subunit GluR1 regulates dendritic architecture of motor neurons.
Journal of Neuroscience 22(18): 8042-8051.
Abstract
The dendritic arborisation of neurons plays a decisive role in establishing the amazingly complex connectivity in the central nervous system. Synaptic activity has long been known to play a major role in shaping the extent as well as the precise layout of this connectivity. We investigated a possible molecular mechanism of this process in rat motor neurons by assessing the impact of overexpression of wildtype and mutant glutamate receptor subunits on dendritic arborisation. Our data show that the calcium-permeable AMPA-type glutamate receptor GluR1(Q) causes a significant increase in the number of dendritic branch points as well as the number of branch tips with no change in the total length of the dendritic tree. By contrast, a non-calcium permeable mutant receptor, GluR1(R), does not alter arborisation. This result points to a role of synaptic activity-triggered postsynaptic calcium influx through glutamate receptors in the shaping of the dendritic network.
