Isoform Specificity in the Relationship of Actin to Dendritic Spines
Open accessAbstract
Dendritic spines contain high concentrations of actin, but neither the isoforms involved nor the mechanism of accumulation is known.In situ hybridization with specific probes established that β- and γ-cytoplasmic actins are selectively expressed at high levels by spine-bearing neurons. Transfecting cultured hippocampal neurons with epitope-tagged actin isoforms showed that cytoplasmic β- and γ-cytoplasmic actins are correctly targeted to spines, whereas α-cardiac muscle actin, which is normally absent from neurons, formed aggregates in dendrites. The transfected actin cDNAs contained only coding domains, suggesting that spine targeting involves amino acid sequences in the proteins, an interpretation supported by experiments with chimeric cDNAs in which C-terminal actin sequences were found to be determinative in spine targeting. By contrast to actin, microtubule components, including tubulin and MAP2, were restricted to the dendritic shaft domain. The close association of cytoplasmic actins with spines together with their general involvement in cell surface motility further supports the idea that actin motility-based changes in spine shape may contribute to synaptic plasticity.
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The beta and gamma isoforms of actin are expressed in brain and specifically targeted to dendritic spines.
“The  and ␥ isoforms of actin are expressed in brain and specifically targeted to dendritic spines (Kaech et al., 1997).”
From Regulation of F-Actin Stability in Dendritic Spines by Glutamate Receptors and Calcineurin (1998) · cites this paper as Kaech et al., 1997
F-actin is highly concentrated in dendritic spines, appearing as intense punctae along dendrites.
“Staining of cultured neurons with rhodamine-phalloidin suggests that F-actin is highly concentrated in spines, appearing as intense punctae along the dendrites (Kaech et al., 1997;Wyszynski et al., 1997).”
From Regulation of F-Actin Stability in Dendritic Spines by Glutamate Receptors and Calcineurin (1998) · cites this paper as Kaech et al., 1997
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Cites
Competitive binding of α-actinin and calmodulin to the NMDA receptor
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Dentritic spines : structure, dynamics and regulation
Hering, H., & Sheng, M. (2001) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/35104061 · Cited by 961 · see citing works
Rapid Actin-Based Plasticity in Dendritic Spines
Fischer, M., Kaech, S., Knutti, D., & Matus, A. (1998) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(00)80467-5 · Cited by 905 · see citing works
Self-citationMolecular Mechanisms of Glutamate Receptor-Mediated Excitotoxic Neuronal Cell Death
Sattler, R., & Tymianski, M. (2001) · Molecular Neurobiology · doi:10.1385/mn:24:1-3:107 · Cited by 537 · see citing works
Regulation of F-Actin Stability in Dendritic Spines by Glutamate Receptors and Calcineurin
Halpain, S., Hipolito, A., & Saffer, L. (1998) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.18-23-09835.1998 · Cited by 408 · see citing works
“Staining of cultured neurons with rhodamine‐phalloidin suggests that F-actin is highly concentrated in spines, appearing as intense punctae along the dendrites ( Kaech et al., 1997; Wyszynski et al., 1997).”
BackgroundInfluentialA Role of Actin Filament in Synaptic Transmission and Long-Term Potentiation
Kim, C.-H., & Lisman, J. E. (1999) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.19-11-04314.1999 · Cited by 386 · see citing works
Quantum computation in brain microtubules: decoherence and biological feasibility
Hagan, S., Hameroff, S. R., & Tuszyński, J. A. (2002) · Physical Review E · doi:10.1103/physreve.65.061901 · Cited by 389 · see citing works
Krucker, T., Siggins, G. R., & Halpain, S. (2000) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.100139797 · Cited by 374 · see citing works
Role of actin cytoskeleton in dendritic spine morphogenesis
Sekino, Y., Kojima, N., & Shirao, T. (2007) · Neurochemistry International · doi:10.1016/j.neuint.2007.04.029 · Cited by 294 · see citing works
Boeckers, T. M., Kreutz, M. R., Winter, C., Zuschratter, W., Smalla, K.-H., Sanmarti-Vila, L., Wex, H., Langnaese, K., Bockmann, J., Garner, C. C., et al. (1999) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.19-15-06506.1999 · Cited by 257 · see citing works
Citron binds to PSD-95 at glutamatergic synapses on inhibitory neurons in the hippocampus
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Murmu, R. P., Li, W., Holtmaat, A., & Li, J.-Y. (2013) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.5284-12.2013 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
“Studies have shown that GFP-tagged actin effectively labels the actin in dendritic spines without altering their morphology (Kaech et al., 1997; Fischer et al., 1998).”
BackgroundTime-lapse imaging of dendritic spines in vitro
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Kaech, S., Fischer, M., Doll, T., & Matus, A.
- Affiliations
- Friedrich Miescher Institute (CH)
- ORCID
- Kaech, Stefanie
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 1997-12-15
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 24
- Pages
- 9565-9572
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC6573413
- OpenAlex
- W2163031440
- Cited by
- 155
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 4.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Cellular Mechanics and Interactions
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Keywords
- actin isoforms, dendritic spines, hippocampal neurons, microtubules, tubulin, MAP2, synaptic plasticity
- MeSH terms
- Actins, Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Brain Chemistry, Cell Movement, Cytoplasm, Dendrites, Isomerism, Microtubule-Associated Proteins, Microtubules, Neuronal Plasticity, Rats, Inbred Strains, RNA, Messenger, Sensitivity and Specificity, Transfection, Gene Expression, Receptors, Glutamate, Rats
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