Premium
Small, smaller… dendritic spine
Author(s) -
Pilo Boyl Pietro,
Witke Walter
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.15252/embj.201490137
Subject(s) - dendritic spine , biology , dendritic filopodia , actin , spine (molecular biology) , actin remodeling of neurons , protein filament , microbiology and biotechnology , biophysics , actin cytoskeleton , cytoskeleton , neuroscience , biochemistry , cell , hippocampal formation
Spines are highly motile protrusions emerging from the dendritic shafts of neurons. The dynamics of these post‐synaptic structures are ruled by actin filament turnover. However, our understanding of the mechanisms of actin polymerization in dendritic spines is quite ambiguous. A recent study by the Giannone laboratory (Chazeau et al , [Chazeau A, 2014]) is now shedding some light on the peculiar features of actin polymerization in dendritic spines, which are distinct from the known canonical mechanisms.