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The HSPG Glypican Regulates Experience-Dependent Synaptic and Behavioral Plasticity by Modulating the Non-Canonical
Keisuke Kamimura1, Aiko Odajima1, Yuko Ikegawa1
1Neural Network Project, Department of Brain Development and Neural Regeneration, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Setagaya, Tokyo 156-8506, Japan.
Food deprivation increases Drosophila larval speed and synapse growth. Octopamine signaling reduces glypican (Dlp) expression, enhancing neural plasticity and locomotion by modulating the BMP pathway.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Food deprivation triggers increased locomotor speed and synaptic growth in Drosophila larvae.
- Octopamine is implicated in this starvation response, but its precise molecular mechanisms are unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To elucidate the role of glypican (Dlp) in mediating starvation-induced neural and behavioral plasticity in Drosophila.
- To investigate the molecular pathway through which octopaminergic signaling influences synaptic formation and locomotion.
Main Methods:
- Genetic manipulation of glypican (Dlp) expression in Drosophila.
- Analysis of synaptic bouton numbers at neuromuscular junctions (NMJs).
- Assessment of postsynaptic GluRIIA expression and larval locomotor behavior.
Main Results:
- Glypican (Dlp) negatively regulates synaptic bouton formation, GluRIIA expression, and locomotor speed.
- Starvation-induced octopaminergic signaling decreases Dlp expression.
- Reduced Dlp enhances non-canonical BMP signaling, leading to increased GluRIIA, bouton number, and locomotion.
Conclusions:
- Octopamine controls starvation-induced neural plasticity by regulating Dlp expression.
- Dlp acts as a suppressor of the non-canonical BMP pathway.
- Proteoglycans like Dlp play a significant role in modulating behavioral and synaptic plasticity during starvation.
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