Molecular assembly of excitatory synapses

Abstract

Excitatory synapses formed on dendrites are a key component of the functional neuronal network. Molecules present within excitatory synapses and their assembly mechanisms have been studied using multiple research strategies, including biochemistry, cell biology, imaging, and molecular genetics. These efforts have clarified the precise time courses and mechanisms of the synaptic molecular assembly, synaptic junction formation, and postsynaptic structure specialization. Using this knowledge and molecular manipulations, key molecules that regulate excitatory synapse formation have been identified. However, an integrated view of the molecular interactions that regulate excitatory synapse development has not yet been constructed. The difficulty in the integration of a wide range of experimental findings into a coherent model should be eliminated by the development of new imaging and computational approaches designed to examine excitatory synapses.