Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China

Abstract

Caspases, a family of cysteine proteases, mediate programmed cell death during early neural development and neurodegeneration, as well as following neurotoxic insults. Notably, accumulating lines of evidence have shown non-apoptotic roles of caspases in the structural and functional plasticity of neuronal circuits under physiological conditions, such as growth-cone dynamics and axonal/dendritic pruning, as well as neuronal excitability and plasticity. Here, we summarize recent progress on the roles of caspases in synaptic refinement.

Keywords

caspases; neuronal plasticity; synaptic refinement

[SpringerLink]