Synapse formation in the culture system

Synapse formation in retinoblastoma tumours.

Developing photoreceptor-like cells in retinoblastoma tumour fleurettes were found to contain apical tight junctions, mitochondrial-filled inner segment regions with cilia, and basally located synaptic ribbons and vesicles. Synaptic contract appeared to be established with adjacent neuronal-like elements. We suggest that photoreceptor differentiation in retinoblastoma tumours follows a sequence...

Synapse formation in retinoblastoma tumours

NRP1 and synapse formation

Perception and behavior are critically dependent on synaptic communication between specific neuronal types. Understanding how neurons achieve such a “synaptic specificity” is therefore one of the most fundamental issues in developmental neuroscience. The final lock between the preand post-synaptic elements is the culmination of a multiple-step program that includes cell migration, cell differen...

Schwann cells and astrocytes induce synapse formation by spinal motor neurons in culture.

Glia constitute 90% of cells in the human nervous system, but relatively little is known about their functions. We have been focusing on the potential synaptic roles of glia in the CNS. We recently found that astrocytes increase the number of mature, functional synapses on retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) by sevenfold and are required for synaptic maintenance in vitro. These observations raised th...

Target recognition and synapse formation by ciliary-ganglion neurons in tissue culture.

Cell-to-cell recognition must play an important role in the nervous system during the formation and maintenance of specific connections between neurons and their target cells. This process of recognition in the nervous system might be based on ( I ) complementarity of structural components in the presynaptic and postsynaptic membranes of appropriate pairs of cells, ( 2 ) the release of a chemic...