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Synapse Formation and Elimination: Competition and the Role of Activity

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Encyclopedia of Neuroscience

Definition

Synaptic competition is a cellular process by which the presence of one synapse affects the stability or survival of other synapses on the same postsynaptic cell. Synapse elimination refers to synapse loss due to either a low “intrinsic merit” of the synapse for survival or to its failure in winning synaptic competition with other synapses on the same cell [1]. Such competition and elimination can be driven by either neuronal/synaptic activity or other activity-independent processes [2]. We here summarize the evidence of activity-dependent synaptic competition and elimination in various brain regions, together with potential underlying cellular mechanisms.

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Introduction

Synaptic competition is a cellular process by which the presence of one synapse affects the stability or survival of other synapses on the same postsynaptic cell. Synapse elimination refers to synapse loss due to either a low “intrinsic merit” of the synapse for survival or to its failure in...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies, The Italian Institute of Technology, Genoa, Italy

    Laura Cancedda

  2. Division of Neurobiology, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Mu-Ming Poo

Authors
  1. Laura Cancedda
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  2. Mu-Ming Poo
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology & Biophysics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Marc D. Binder

  2. Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Graduate School of Medicine University of Tokyo Hongo, Bunkyo‐ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Nobutaka Hirokawa

  3. Göttingen, Germany

    Uwe Windhorst

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg

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Cancedda, L., Poo, MM. (2009). Synapse Formation and Elimination: Competition and the Role of Activity. In: Binder, M.D., Hirokawa, N., Windhorst, U. (eds) Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_5800

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