Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 Apr 29;280(17):17312-9.
doi: 10.1074/jbc.M413812200. Epub 2005 Feb 21.

Neuroligins mediate excitatory and inhibitory synapse formation: involvement of PSD-95 and neurexin-1beta in neuroligin-induced synaptic specificity

Joshua N Levinson  1 , Nadège Chéry, Kun Huang, Tak Pan Wong, Kimberly Gerrow, Rujun Kang, Oliver Prange, Yu Tian Wang, Alaa El-Husseini
Affiliations
Free article

Neuroligins mediate excitatory and inhibitory synapse formation: involvement of PSD-95 and neurexin-1beta in neuroligin-induced synaptic specificity

Joshua N Levinson et al. J Biol Chem. .
Free article

Abstract

The balance between excitatory and inhibitory synapses is a tightly regulated process that requires differential recruitment of proteins that dictate the specificity of newly formed contacts. However, factors that control this process remain unidentified. Here we show that members of the neuroligin (NLG) family, including NLG1, NLG2, and NLG3, drive the formation of both excitatory and inhibitory presynaptic contacts. The enrichment of endogenous NLG1 at excitatory contacts and NLG2 at inhibitory synapses supports an important in vivo role for these proteins in the development of both types of contacts. Immunocytochemical and electrophysiological analysis showed that the effects on excitatory and inhibitory synapses can be blocked by treatment with a fusion protein containing the extracellular domain of neurexin-1beta. We also found that overexpression of PSD-95, a postsynaptic binding partner of NLGs, resulted in a shift in the distribution of NLG2 from inhibitory to excitatory synapses. These findings reveal a critical role for NLGs and their synaptic partners in controlling the number of inhibitory and excitatory synapses. Furthermore, relative levels of PSD-95 alter the ratio of excitatory to inhibitory synaptic contacts by sequestering members of the NLG family to excitatory synapses.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

-