Characterizing synaptic protein development in human visual cortex enables alignment of synaptic age with rat visual cortex Joshua G.A Pinto, David G Jones, Kate Williams and Kathryn M Murphy
Journal Name:
Frontiers in Neural Circuits
ISSN:
1662-5110
Article type:
Original Research Article
Received on:
20 Aug 2014
Accepted on:
08 Jan 2015
Provisional PDF published on:
08 Jan 2015
Frontiers website link:
www.frontiersin.org
Citation:
Pinto JG, Jones DG, Williams K and Murphy KM(2015) Characterizing synaptic protein development in human visual cortex enables alignment of synaptic age with rat visual cortex. Front. Neural Circuits 9:3. doi:10.3389/fncir.2015.00003
Copyright statement:
© 2015 Pinto, Jones, Williams and Murphy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution and reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
This Provisional PDF corresponds to the article as it appeared upon acceptance, after rigorous peer-review. Fully formatted PDF and full text (HTML) versions will be made available soon.
Characterizing synaptic protein development in human visual cortex enables alignment of synaptic age with rat visual cortex One Sentence Summary: We have shown prolonged development of synaptic proteins in human primary visual cortex and alignment of cortical synaptic age between humans and rats, which is key for age-appropriate targeting and effective translation of neuroplasticity therapies from the lab to the clinic. Joshua G.A. Pinto1, David G. Jones3, C. Kate Williams1, Kathryn M. Murphy1,2* 1. McMaster Integrative Neuroscience Discovery and Study Program, McMaster University 2. Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior, McMaster University 3. Pairwise Affinity Inc., Dundas, Ontario
*Correspondence: Dr. Kathryn Murphy McMaster Integrative Neuroscience Discovery and Study (MiNDS) McMaster University 1280 Main Street West Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4K1, Canada [email protected]
1
Summary Although many potential neuroplasticity based therapies have been developed in the lab, few have translated into established clinical treatments for human neurologic or neuropsychiatric diseases. Animal models, especially of the visual system, have shaped our understanding of neuroplasticity by characterizing the mechanisms that promote neural changes and defining timing of the sensitive period. The lack of knowledge about development of synaptic plasticity mechanisms in human cortex, and about alignment of synaptic age between animals and humans, has limited translation of neuroplasticity therapies. In this study, we quantified expression of a set of highly conserved pre- and post-synaptic proteins (Synapsin, Synaptophysin, PSD-95, Gephyrin) and found that synaptic development in human primary visual cortex continues into late childhood. Indeed, this is many years longer than suggested by neuroanatomical studies and points to a prolonged sensitive period for plasticity in human sensory cortex. In addition, during childhood we found waves of inter-individual variability that are different for the 4 proteins and include a stage during early development (55 years) and histograms were plotted showing the mean expression level of the synaptic protein and the standard error of the mean for each age group. Statistical comparisons between groups were made using an analysis of variance and, when significant (p
Journal Name:
Frontiers in Neural Circuits
ISSN:
1662-5110
Article type:
Original Research Article
Received on:
20 Aug 2014
Accepted on:
08 Jan 2015
Provisional PDF published on:
08 Jan 2015
Frontiers website link:
www.frontiersin.org
Citation:
Pinto JG, Jones DG, Williams K and Murphy KM(2015) Characterizing synaptic protein development in human visual cortex enables alignment of synaptic age with rat visual cortex. Front. Neural Circuits 9:3. doi:10.3389/fncir.2015.00003
Copyright statement:
© 2015 Pinto, Jones, Williams and Murphy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution and reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
This Provisional PDF corresponds to the article as it appeared upon acceptance, after rigorous peer-review. Fully formatted PDF and full text (HTML) versions will be made available soon.
Characterizing synaptic protein development in human visual cortex enables alignment of synaptic age with rat visual cortex One Sentence Summary: We have shown prolonged development of synaptic proteins in human primary visual cortex and alignment of cortical synaptic age between humans and rats, which is key for age-appropriate targeting and effective translation of neuroplasticity therapies from the lab to the clinic. Joshua G.A. Pinto1, David G. Jones3, C. Kate Williams1, Kathryn M. Murphy1,2* 1. McMaster Integrative Neuroscience Discovery and Study Program, McMaster University 2. Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior, McMaster University 3. Pairwise Affinity Inc., Dundas, Ontario
*Correspondence: Dr. Kathryn Murphy McMaster Integrative Neuroscience Discovery and Study (MiNDS) McMaster University 1280 Main Street West Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4K1, Canada [email protected]
1
Summary Although many potential neuroplasticity based therapies have been developed in the lab, few have translated into established clinical treatments for human neurologic or neuropsychiatric diseases. Animal models, especially of the visual system, have shaped our understanding of neuroplasticity by characterizing the mechanisms that promote neural changes and defining timing of the sensitive period. The lack of knowledge about development of synaptic plasticity mechanisms in human cortex, and about alignment of synaptic age between animals and humans, has limited translation of neuroplasticity therapies. In this study, we quantified expression of a set of highly conserved pre- and post-synaptic proteins (Synapsin, Synaptophysin, PSD-95, Gephyrin) and found that synaptic development in human primary visual cortex continues into late childhood. Indeed, this is many years longer than suggested by neuroanatomical studies and points to a prolonged sensitive period for plasticity in human sensory cortex. In addition, during childhood we found waves of inter-individual variability that are different for the 4 proteins and include a stage during early development (55 years) and histograms were plotted showing the mean expression level of the synaptic protein and the standard error of the mean for each age group. Statistical comparisons between groups were made using an analysis of variance and, when significant (p
