The Open Neuroscience Journal

2009, 3 : 128-133
Published online 2009 November 25. DOI: 10.2174/1874082000903010128
Publisher ID: TONEURJ-3-128

Microtubules in Dendritic Spine Development and Plasticity

Jiaping Gu and James Q. Zheng
Department of Cell Biology and Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, 615 Michael Street, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA.

ABSTRACT

Recent studies indicate that microtubules (MTs) may play an important role in spine development and dynamics. Several imaging studies have now documented the exploration of dendritic spines by dynamic MTs in an activitydependent manner. Furthermore, it was found that alterations of MT dynamics by pharmacological and molecular approaches exert profound influence on the development and plasticity of spines associated with neuronal activity. It is reasonable to speculate that dynamic MTs may be responsible for targeted delivery of specific cargos to a selected number of spines and/or for interacting with the actin cytoskeleton to generate the structural changes of spines associated with synaptic modifications.