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NEUROBIOLOGY: Cholesterol--Making or Breaking the Synapse
Ben A. Barres and Stephen J. Smith
Synapses are regions where neurons meet and communicate. But how is their formation regulated in the developing and adult brain? As Smith and Barres explain in their Perspective, the answer could not be simpler. It turns out that, at least in the culture dish, a type of glial cell called an astrocyte produces the molecule cholesterol, which is taken up by neurons and then directs formation of synapses perhaps by regulating vital signaling pathways (Mauch et al.).
B. A. Barres is in the Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Fairchild Science Building, Stanford, CA 94305-5125, USA. E-mail: barres{at}stanford.edu S. J Smith is in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Beckman Center, Stanford, CA 94305-5345, USA. E-mail: sjsmith{at}stanford.edu
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In Science Magazine
LETTERS
Alexei R. Koudinov and Natalia V. Koudinova (22 March 2002) Science295 (5563), 2213a.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.295.5563.2213a] |Full Text »
REPORTS
Daniela H. Mauch, Karl Nägler, Stefan Schumacher, Christian Göritz, Eva-Christina Müller, Albrecht Otto, and Frank W. Pfrieger (9 November 2001) Science294 (5545), 1354.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.294.5545.1354] |Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
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