Seeonlineversionforlegendandreferences.AlsoseetheSeptember25,2008,NeuronReviewsIssueentitled“CalciumSignalingattheSynapse.”SnapShot:Ca2+-DependentTranscriptioninNeuronsJanineZieg,PaulL.Greer,andMichaelE.GreenbergDepartmentofNeurobiology,HarvardMedicalSchool,Boston,MA02115,USA1080Cell134,September19,2008©2008ElsevierInc.DOI10.1016/j.cell.2008.09.010SnapShot:Ca2+-DependentTranscriptioninNeuronsJanineZieg,PaulL.Greer,andMichaelE.GreenbergDepartmentofNeurobiology,HarvardMedicalSchool,Boston,MA02115,USA1080.e1Cell134,September19,2008©2008ElsevierInc.DOI10.1016/j.cell.2008.09.010Synapticactivitystimulatestheinfluxofcalciumionsintothepostsynapticneuronandtherebysetsinmotionacascadeofsignalingeventsthatleadtochangesingeneexpression.Thesechangesingeneexpressionaffectmanyaspectsofnervoussystemdevelopmentincludingdendriticmorphogenesis,neuronalsurvival,andsynapsedevelopmentaswellastheadaptiveresponsesthatunderlielearningandmemoryinthematurenervoussystem.Mutationsincomponentsofthesignal-ingpathwaysthatparticipateintheprocessofexperience-dependentbraindevelopmenthavebeenfoundtogiverisetoavarietyofdisordersofcognitivefunctionincludingautismspectrumdisorders.Theinitialcontactbetweentheaxonandthedendriteduringsynapsedevelopmentismediatedbycellsurface-associatedproteinsonthepre-andpostsynapticmembranes.Forexample,thebindingofpresynapticβ-neurexintoitspostsynapticreceptor,Neuroligin1,leadstotherecruitmentofPSD-95atnascentexcitatorysynapses.Ephrin/EphsignalingleadstotherecruitmentofadditionalproteinsandthepotentiationofNMDAreceptorsignaling.Releaseoftheexcitatoryneurotrans-mitterglutamatefromthepresynapticmembraneanditsbindingtoNMDAreceptorsandAMPAreceptorsonthepostsynapticmembraneleadtotheopeningoftheseglutamate-gatedionchannels.Thisisfollowedbymembranedepolarization,openingoftheL-typevoltage-gatedcalciumionchannel(L-VSCC),andarapidriseincalciumionsinthepostsynapticneuronaswellasotherlocalchangesincludingproteinrecruitmentandactivation.CalciumentrythroughL-VSCCsleadstotherecr...
