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
83 정원석 교수_ 삼성전자, ‘세계 알츠하이머의 날’ 맞아 연구원 노력 담은 영상 공개 생명과학과 2020.09.21 3109
» 정원석 교수님_Astrocytes eat connections to maintain plasticity in adult brains 생명과학과 2020.12.28 2469
81 정원석 교수님_KAIST, 신경세포의 흥분성 증가로 인한 뇌 질환 기제 규명 생명과학과 2021.06.03 1903
80 정원석 교수님_국내 연구진, 우리 뇌가 계속 일할 수 있는 이유 밝혀 생명과학과 2021.02.26 2168
79 정유진 석사과정 학생, 조병관 교수 Nature Communications 논문 게재(2016.06) / Yujin Jeong, a Master's degree student and Prof. Byung-Kwan Cho published a paper in Nature Communications (2016.06) 생명과학과 2016.06.07 14889
78 정인경 교수, 인체 조직읜 3차원 게놈지도 해독 file 생명과학과 2019.09.25 5075
77 정인경 교수님_KAIST, 전 세계 최대 규모의 3차원 암 게놈 지도 구축 생명과학과 2020.12.29 1813
76 정인경 교수님_유전자 온-오프 스위치 비밀 밝히는 정인경 카이스트 교수 생명과학과 2021.07.26 1685
75 정종경 교수 이달의 과학기술자상 12월 수상자로 선정 과사무실 2006.12.11 12799
74 정현정 교수, 한국 로레알-유네스코 여성과학자상 펠로우십 수상 file 생명과학과 2019.07.04 6228
73 정현정 교수님_도파민의 성질로 박테리아 생장의 실시간 탐지 기술 개발​ 생명과학과 2020.12.09 1917
72 정현정교수_ 커피링 효과로 감염병 신속진단 기술 개발 생명과학과 2020.09.17 2795
71 정형록 박사과정 학생, 최광욱 교수 Development Cell 게재(2016.02) / Hyung-Lok Chung, a Ph.D candidate and Prof. Kwang-Wook Choi published a paper in Dev. Cell (2016.02) 생명과학과 2016.03.11 12504
70 제1회 젊은 파스퇴르상 카이스트 석권! 과사무실 2010.03.02 12352
69 제5회 연구노트 경진대회(Lab Note Contest) 시상식 file 생명과학과 2020.04.03 4959
68 조병관 교수, 세계경제포럼 Young Scientist 에 선정! 과사무실 2012.09.17 14499
67 조병관 교수님 _Newly discovered metabolic pathway uses single carbon gases as a feedstock file 생명과학과 2020.11.20 4347
66 조병관 교수님_ 미생물 이용한 탄소 가스 활용기술 개발 file 생명과학과 2020.03.27 3987
65 조병관 교수님_Antibiotic tolerance study paves way for new treatments 생명과학과 2021.02.19 2352
64 조병관 교수님_Antibiotic tolerance study paves way for new treatments 생명과학과 2021.03.03 1422
Board Pagination Prev 1 ... 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Next
/ 23