The synaptic remodelling that occurs during activity-dependent plasticity and that is thought to underlie memory formation is incompletely understood, but complement component 1 q subcompartment-like (C1qL) proteins have been reported to be involved. Here, C1qL3 was found to be expressed in an activity-dependent manner in a subset of basolateral amygdala neurons that project to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Compared with controls, conditional C1ql3-knockout mice had fewer excitatory synapses in mPFC subregions innervated by these neurons and impaired fear memory.
References
Martinelli, D. C. et al. Expression of C1ql3 in discrete neuronal populations controls efferent synapse numbers and diverse behaviors. Neuron http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2016.07.002 (2016)
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Lewis, S. How synapses form memories. Nat Rev Neurosci 17, 604 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2016.120
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2016.120