Glia: Astrocytes make synapses noisy.

摘要

It has previously been shown that astrocytes can secrete factors that result in the formation of silent synapses, but whether they can induce formation of functional synapses was unknown. Exposure of purified retinal ganglion cell neurons to the astrocyte-secreted molecules glypican 4 (GPC4) and GPC6 was sufficient to induce functional synapses.