Cypin Mediates Dendrite Branching in Neuron Development

Researchers have shown that overexpression of cypin, a protein that has guanine deaminase activity and is expressed in developing processes in rat hippocampal neurons, results in increased dendrite branching in neurons growing in tissue culture.

Investigators at Rutgers University (Piscataway, NJ, USA) used a rat model to study neuron development. Various methods were employed either to induce lower-than-normal levels of cypin or to generate cypin that lacked guanine deaminase activity and was inactive. In both cases neurons growing in culture produced fewer dendrites than normal. The investigators also found that cypin bound directly to tubulin heterodimers and promoted microtubule polymerization, resulting in the growth of skeletal structures in vitro. These findings were published in the January 18, 2004, on-line edition of Nature Neurosciences.

"The identification of cypin and understanding how it works in the brain is particularly exciting since it opens up new avenues for the treatment of serious neurological disorders,” said principal investigator Dr. Bonnie Firestein, assistant professor of cell biology and neuroscience at Rutgers. "This paves the way to designing new drugs that could target this protein molecule.”




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