Research Reveals How Brain Cell Connections Get Cemented Early in Life

A new discovery made by scientists may help boost their understanding of autism, schizophrenia and intellectual disability.

A team of University of Michigan Medical School neuroscientists have shown that SIRP alpha, a protein found on the surface of various cells throughout the body, appears to play a key role in the process of cementing the most active synaptic connections between brain cells.

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In the new study, the team studied SIRP alpha function in the brain -- and started to understand its role in synapse stabilization. They focused on the hippocampus, a region of the brain very important to learning and memory.

Through a range of experiments, they showed that when a brain cell receives signals from a neighbouring cell across a synapse, it actually releases SIRP-alpha into the space between the cells. It does this through the action of molecules inside the cell -- called CaMK and MMP -- that act like molecular scissors, cutting a SIRP-alpha protein in half so that it can float freely away from the cell.

The part of the SIRP-alpha protein that floats into the synapse "gap" latches on to a receptor on the other side, called a CD47 receptor. This binding, in turn, appears to tell the cell that the signal it sent earlier was indeed received -- and that the synapse is a good one. So, the cell brings more chemical signaling molecules down that way, and releases them into the synapse.

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As more and more nerve messages travel between the "sending" and "receiving" cells on either side of that synapse, more SIRP-alpha gets cleaved, released into the synapse, and bound to CD47.

The researchers believe this repeated process is what helps the cells determine which synapses to keep -- and which to let wither.