Synaptogenesis - the formation of synapses between neurons in the nervous system

Synaptogenesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Synaptogenesis is the formation of synapses between neurons in the nervous system. Although it occurs throughout a healthy person's lifespan, an explosion of synapse formation occurs during early brain development, known as exuberant synaptogenesis.^[1] Synaptogenesis is particularly important during an individual's "critical periods" of life, during which there is a certain degree of synaptic pruning due to competition for neural growth factors
by neurons and synapses. Processes that are not used, or inhibited
during their critical period will fail to develop normally later on in
life.^[2]

Contents

• 1 Formation of the Neuromuscular Junction
  
  • 1.1 Function
  • 1.2 Origin and Movement of Cells
  • 1.3 Post-synaptic Differentiation
    
    • 1.3.1 Clustering
    • 1.3.2 Synapse-specific Transcription
    • 1.3.3 Extrasynaptic Repression
  • 1.4 Pre-synaptic Differentiation
  • 1.5 Synaptic Maturation
    
    • 1.5.1 Synapse Elimination
  • 1.6 Synapse Formation Specificity
• 2 Central Nervous System Synapse Formation
  
  • 2.1 Factors Regulating Synaptogenesis in the CNS
    
    • 2.1.1 Signaling
    • 2.1.2 Morphology
• 3 Environmental enrichment
• 4 Contributions of the Wnt Protein Family
  
  • 4.1 Central Nervous System
  • 4.2 Neuromuscular Junction
• 5 References