The Regulation of Eph/ephrin to the Dendritic Spine and Central Nervous System Diseases

Ning Jiang, Hong-Feng Zhang*
(School of Life Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China)

Abstract Dendritic spines are functional protrusions on neuron dendrites and generally act as postsynaptic sites to form integral synapses with axon terminals. In mature central nervous system, dendritic spines are often in motility and variations of spine morphology and structure can largely influence the function of synapses. Eph receptor tyrosine kinase family and its ephrin ligand family are important axon guidance cues and also directly regulate dendritic spines. It has been widely established that activation of Eph receptors by ephrins promotes spine mature as well as affect spine morphology and structure. The abnormality of Eph/ephrin, however, generally impairs the synaptic function and results in several spine dysfunction-associated neural diseases.

Key words Eph/ephrin; dendritic spines; synapses; plasticity

Received: November 8, 2005 Accepted: March 28, 2006

*Corresponding author. Tel: 86-21-62233549, Fax: 86-21-62233754, E-mail: hfzhang20052@hotmail.com