Neuronal activity augments maturation of mushroom-shaped spines to form excitatory synapses, thereby strengthening synaptic transmission. We have delineated a Ca(2+)-signaling pathway downstream of the NMDA receptor that stimulates calmodulin-dependent kinase kinase (CaMKK) and CaMKI to promote formation of spines and synapses in hippocampal neurons. CaMKK and CaMKI form a multiprotein signaling complex with the guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) betaPIX and GIT1 that is localized in spines. CaMKI-mediated phosphorylation of Ser516 in betaPIX enhances its GEF activity, resulting in activation of Rac1, an established enhancer of spinogenesis. Suppression of CaMKK or CaMKI by pharmacological inhibitors, dominant-negative (dn) constructs and siRNAs, as well as expression of the betaPIX Ser516Ala mutant, decreases spine formation and mEPSC frequency. Constitutively-active Pak1, a downstream effector of Rac1, rescues spine inhibition by dnCaMKI or betaPIX S516A. This activity-dependent signaling pathway can promote synapse formation during neuronal development and in structural plasticity.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 7. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 09 March 2021.
All research outputs
#6,610,456
of 34,054,827 outputs
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#5,890
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Outputs of similar age
#33,346
of 225,639 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Neuron
#22
of 56 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,054,827 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 79th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 10,791 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 33.9. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 56 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 57% of its contemporaries.
