Novel regulation on excitatory synaptic transmission in cortical interneurons

Inhibitory interneurons,which count 10%—20%of neurons in cortex,regulate the firing of excitatory neurons and are critical to sophisticated brain functions.Disruption of the excitability of cortical interneurons has been implicated in neurological and psychiatric disorders including epilepsy,schizophrenia and autism.Unlike the excitatory synapses of excitatory neurons whose molecular composition and regulation are extensively studied,our knowledge of these of inhibitory neurons is limited.Dr.Tao Yanmei,Professor in the Institute of Developmental and Regenerative Biology in Hangzhou Normal University,in collaboration with Dr.Lin Mei,Professor in the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics,Georgia Regents University,published an article recently in Nature Neuroscience(2013,16:290—299)and reported that Leucine-Rich-Repeats and PDZ containing protein(LAP)Erbin regulates excitatory synaptic transmission