KAIST 생명과학과동창회
  • News & Events
  • News

News

Astrocytes eat connections to maintain plasticity in adult brains

 

by The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) 

  

 

    Astrocytes eat connections to maintain plasticity in adult brains

A 3-D image showing our synapse phagocytosis reporter in mouse hippocampus

 

Developing brains constantly sprout new neuronal connections called synapses as they learn and remember. Important connectionsthe ones that are repeatedly introduced, such as how to avoid dangerare nurtured and reinforced, while connections deemed unnecessary are pruned away. Adult brains undergo similar pruning, but it was unclear how or why synapses in the adult brain get eliminated.                      

    

Now, a team of KAIST researchers has found the mechanism underlying plasticity and, potentially, neurological disorders in adult brains. They published their findings on December 23 in Nature.

    

"Our findings have profound implications for our understanding of how neural circuits change during learning and memory, as well as in diseases," said paper author Won-Suk Chung, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at KAIST. "Changes in synapse number have strong association with the prevalence of various neurological disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, frontotemporal dementia, and several forms of seizures."

    

Gray matter in the brain contains microglia and astrocytes, two complementary cells that, among other things, support neurons and synapses. Microglial are a frontline immunity defense, responsible for eating pathogens and dead cells, and astrocytes are star-shaped cells that help structure the brain and maintain homeostasis by helping to control signaling between neurons. According to Professor Chung, it is generally thought that microglial eat synapses as part of its clean-up effort in a process known as phagocytosis.

    

"Using novel tools, we show that, for the first time, it is astrocytes and not microglia that constantly eliminate excessive and unnecessary adult excitatory synaptic connections in response to neuronal activity," Professor Chung said. "Our paper challenges the general consensus in this field that microglia are the primary synapse phagocytes that control synapse numbers in the brain."

  

Professor Chung and his team developed a molecular sensor to detect synapse elimination by glial cells and quantified how often and by which type of cell synapses were eliminated. They also deployed it in a mouse model without MEGF10, the gene that allows astrocytes to eliminate synapses. Adult animals with this defective astrocytic phagocytosis had unusually increased excitatory synapse numbers in the hippocampus. Through a collaboration with Dr. Hyungju Park at KBRI, they showed that these increased excitatory synapses are functionally impaired, which cause defective learning and memory formation in MEGF10 deleted animals.

 

"Through this process, we show that, at least in the adult hippocampal CA1 region, astrocytes are the major player in eliminating synapses, and this astrocytic function is essential for controlling synapse number and plasticity," Chung said.

    

Professor Chung noted that researchers are only beginning to understand how synapse elimination affects maturation and homeostasis in the brain. In his group's preliminary data in other brain regions, it appears that each region has different rates of synaptic elimination by astrocytes. They suspect a variety of internal and external factors are influencing how astrocytes modulate each regional circuit, and plan to elucidate these variables.

 

"Our long-term goal is understanding how astrocyte-mediated synapse turnover affects the initiation and progression of various neurological disorders," Professor Chung said. "It is intriguing to postulate that modulating astrocytic phagocytosis to restore synaptic connectivity may be a novel strategy in treating various brain disorders."

 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201224090406.htm 

https://sciencecodex.com/astrocytes-eat-connections-maintain-plasticity-adult-brains-664004  

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-astrocytes-plasticity-adult-brains.html 

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20201224/Researchers-find-mechanism-underlying-plasticity-in-adult-brains.aspx 

https://www.miragenews.com/astrocytes-eat-connections-to-maintain-plasticity-in-adult-brains/ 

https://microbiozindia.com/health-news/researchers-locate-mechanism-underlying-plasticity-in-grownup-brains/


List of Articles
번호 제목 글쓴이 날짜 조회 수
429 [허원도 교수님] 한국과학기술한림원 2024년도 정회원 선출 생명과학과 2023.12.04 107
428 [유슬기(양한슬 교수님 연구실)] 제4회 'POSTECH SF 어워드', KAIST 유슬기 씨 당선 생명과학과 2024.02.27 135
427 [허원도 교수님] RNA 유전자 가위 정밀제어기술로 유전자 치료 성큼​ 생명과학과 2024.02.14 151
426 [정인경 교수님] 인공지능 기반 대장암 3차원 게놈 지도 최초 해독​ 생명과학과 2023.07.25 179
425 [허원도 교수님] 기억하고 인지하는 과정을 실시간 관찰하다 생명과학과 2024.01.10 193
424 [강석조 교수님] DNA 인식 선천면역인자의 방호패치 발견​ 생명과학과 2023.12.05 200
423 [김학성 교수님] 알츠하이머 조기 진단하는 센서단백질 디자인하다​ 생명과학과 2023.12.08 201
422 [김학성 명예교수님] 2023 효소공학상(Enzyme Engineering Award) 수상​ 생명과학과 2023.08.24 225
421 [김윤기, 조원기 교수님] 비정상 단백질 처리에 관여하는 새로운 인자 발견 생명과학과 2023.10.12 242
420 [강석조 교수님] 이행 호염구, 알레르기 매개 세포에 대한 새로운 이해 생명과학과 2023.11.08 245
419 [전상용 교수님] 탄수화물 나노입자로 염증성 장 질환 치료하다​ 생명과학과 2023.08.02 261
418 [김상규 교수님] 생명과학과의 낭만과학자 Eco Lab 대표 김사부(KAIST 유튜브) 생명과학과 2023.12.12 264
417 [이승재 교수님] 생체 에너지 발전소 부산물로 병원균 감염 제어​ 생명과학과 2023.07.11 271
416 [김윤기 교수님] 저용량 고효율 RNA백신 개발 가능해지다​ 생명과학과 2023.10.24 271
415 [김찬혁 교수님] 6월 ‘이달의 과학기술인상’ 수상 생명과학과 2023.06.08 272
414 [김재경 교수님] 포스코 사이언스 펠로십 선정​ 생명과학과 2023.10.18 275
413 [정원석 교수님] 아동 학대로 인한 정신질환 발병 원인 최초 규명​ 생명과학과 2023.08.01 282
412 [조병관 교수님 연구실] 2022년 안전관리 우수연구실 선정 file 생명과학과 2023.01.27 287
411 [정인경 교수님] 기저 질환이 없는 코로나19 환자의 중증 신규 유전적 위험 인자 규명 생명과학과 2022.09.29 334
410 [강창원, 서연수 교수님, 팔린다 박사님] 논문 Nucleic Acids Research 게재 생명과학과 2023.02.17 334
Board Pagination Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ... 22 Next
/ 22