Neuroligins and neurexins link synaptic function to cognitive disease

Nature. 2008 Oct 16;455(7215):903-11.

Neuroligins and neurexins link synaptic function to cognitive disease.

Südhof TC. Neuroscience Institute, Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, 1050 Arastradero Road B249, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA.

The brain processes information by transmitting signals at synapses, which connect neurons into vast networks of communicating cells. In these networks, synapses not only transmit signals but also transform and refine them. Neurexins and neuroligins are synaptic cell-adhesion molecules that connect presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons at synapses, mediate signalling across the synapse, and shape the properties of neural networks by specifying synaptic functions. In humans, alterations in genes encoding neurexins or neuroligins have recently been implicated in autism and other cognitive diseases, linking synaptic cell adhesion to cognition and its disorders.

PMID: 18923512 [PubMed - in process]