| Abstrakt: |
A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) has found that the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway, which contains multiple risk genes associated with neurodevelopmental disorders like autism spectrum disorder, plays a crucial role in neural circuit development and behavior. The study focused on the role of TCF7L2, a key transcriptional effector of the pathway, in postnatal astrocyte maturation and adult social behavior. The researchers discovered that the conditional knockout of Tcf7l2 in postnatal astrocytes led to enlarged astrocytes with defective tiling and gap junction coupling, an increase in the number of cortical synapses, and a marked increase in social interaction in adult mice. These findings highlight the importance of astrocytic Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in regulating synapse development and social behavior. [Extracted from the article] |
