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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Preparation of Synaptic Plasma Membrane and Postsynaptic Density Proteins Using a Discontinuous Sucrose Gradient
Published on: September 3, 2014
Microtubule binding by CRIPT and its potential role in the synaptic clustering of PSD-95
M Passafaro1, C Sala, M Niethammer
1Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Neurobiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, HHMI/Wellman 423, 50 Blossom Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.
Abstract:
CRIPT is a postsynaptic protein that binds selectively to the third PDZ domain (PDZ3) of PSD-95. Here we show that CRIPT also binds directly to microtubules, thereby linking PSD-95 to the microtubule cytoskeleton. Disrupting the CRIPT-PSD-95 interaction in cultured hippocampal neurons with a PDZ3-specific peptide prevented the association of PSD-95 with microtubules and inhibited the synaptic clustering of PSD-95, chapsyn-110/PSD-93 and GKAP (a PSD-95-binding protein). However, the number of synapses and the synaptic clustering of NMDA receptors were unaffected, suggesting that PSD-95-family proteins are not essential for the maintenance of synapses and the synaptic localization of NMDA receptors.
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