0000000000014638
AUTHOR
Pasko Rakic
showing 2 related works from this author
Heat shock factor 2 is a stress-responsive mediator of neuronal migration defects in models of fetal alcohol syndrome
2014
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a frequent cause of mental retardation. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying brain development defects induced by maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy are unclear. We used normal and Hsf2-deficient mice and cell systems to uncover a pivotal role for heat shock factor 2 (HSF2) in radial neuronal migration defects in the cortex, a hallmark of fetal alcohol exposure. Upon fetal alcohol exposure, HSF2 is essential for the triggering of HSF1 activation, which is accompanied by distinctive post-translational modifications, and HSF2 steers the formation of atypical alcohol-specific HSF1–HSF2 heterocomplexes. This perturbs the in vivo bindi…
Hardwiring the Brain: Endocannabinoids Shape Neuronal Connectivity
2007
The roles of endocannabinoid signaling during central nervous system development are unknown. We report that CB 1 cannabinoid receptors (CB 1 Rs) are enriched in the axonal growth cones of γ-aminobutyric acid–containing (GABAergic) interneurons in the rodent cortex during late gestation. Endocannabinoids trigger CB 1 R internalization and elimination from filopodia and induce chemorepulsion and collapse of axonal growth cones of these GABAergic interneurons by activating RhoA. Similarly, endocannabinoids diminish the galvanotropism of Xenopus laevis spinal neurons. These findings, together with the impaired target selection of cortical GABAergic interneurons lacking CB 1 Rs, identify endoc…