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The Secrets of a Functional Synapse – From a Computational and Experimental Viewpoint
BACKGROUND: Neuronal communication is tightly regulated in time and in space. The neuronal transmission takes place in the nerve terminal, at a specialized structure called the synapse. Following neuronal activation, an electrical signal triggers neurotransmitter (NT) release at the active zone. The...
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Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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BioMed Central
2006
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1810317/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16723009 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-7-S1-S6 |
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author | Linial, Michal |
author_facet | Linial, Michal |
author_sort | Linial, Michal |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Neuronal communication is tightly regulated in time and in space. The neuronal transmission takes place in the nerve terminal, at a specialized structure called the synapse. Following neuronal activation, an electrical signal triggers neurotransmitter (NT) release at the active zone. The process starts by the signal reaching the synapse followed by a fusion of the synaptic vesicle and diffusion of the released NT in the synaptic cleft; the NT then binds to the appropriate receptor, and as a result, a potential change at the target cell membrane is induced. The entire process lasts for only a fraction of a millisecond. An essential property of the synapse is its capacity to undergo biochemical and morphological changes, a phenomenon that is referred to as synaptic plasticity. RESULTS: In this survey, we consider the mammalian brain synapse as our model. We take a cell biological and a molecular perspective to present fundamental properties of the synapse:(i) the accurate and efficient delivery of organelles and material to and from the synapse; (ii) the coordination of gene expression that underlies a particular NT phenotype; (iii) the induction of local protein expression in a subset of stimulated synapses. We describe the computational facet and the formulation of the problem for each of these topics. CONCLUSION: Predicting the behavior of a synapse under changing conditions must incorporate genomics and proteomics information with new approaches in computational biology. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-1810317 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2006 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-18103172007-03-06 The Secrets of a Functional Synapse – From a Computational and Experimental Viewpoint Linial, Michal BMC Bioinformatics Review BACKGROUND: Neuronal communication is tightly regulated in time and in space. The neuronal transmission takes place in the nerve terminal, at a specialized structure called the synapse. Following neuronal activation, an electrical signal triggers neurotransmitter (NT) release at the active zone. The process starts by the signal reaching the synapse followed by a fusion of the synaptic vesicle and diffusion of the released NT in the synaptic cleft; the NT then binds to the appropriate receptor, and as a result, a potential change at the target cell membrane is induced. The entire process lasts for only a fraction of a millisecond. An essential property of the synapse is its capacity to undergo biochemical and morphological changes, a phenomenon that is referred to as synaptic plasticity. RESULTS: In this survey, we consider the mammalian brain synapse as our model. We take a cell biological and a molecular perspective to present fundamental properties of the synapse:(i) the accurate and efficient delivery of organelles and material to and from the synapse; (ii) the coordination of gene expression that underlies a particular NT phenotype; (iii) the induction of local protein expression in a subset of stimulated synapses. We describe the computational facet and the formulation of the problem for each of these topics. CONCLUSION: Predicting the behavior of a synapse under changing conditions must incorporate genomics and proteomics information with new approaches in computational biology. BioMed Central 2006-03-20 /pmc/articles/PMC1810317/ /pubmed/16723009 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-7-S1-S6 Text en |
spellingShingle | Review Linial, Michal The Secrets of a Functional Synapse – From a Computational and Experimental Viewpoint |
title | The Secrets of a Functional Synapse – From a Computational and Experimental Viewpoint |
title_full | The Secrets of a Functional Synapse – From a Computational and Experimental Viewpoint |
title_fullStr | The Secrets of a Functional Synapse – From a Computational and Experimental Viewpoint |
title_full_unstemmed | The Secrets of a Functional Synapse – From a Computational and Experimental Viewpoint |
title_short | The Secrets of a Functional Synapse – From a Computational and Experimental Viewpoint |
title_sort | secrets of a functional synapse – from a computational and experimental viewpoint |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1810317/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16723009 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-7-S1-S6 |
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