AUTHOR=Araujo Ana P. B. , Diniz Luan P. , Eller Cristiane M. , de Matos Beatriz G. , Martinez Rodrigo , Gomes Flávia C. A. TITLE=Effects of Transforming Growth Factor Beta 1 in Cerebellar Development: Role in Synapse Formation JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2016 YEAR=2016 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fncel.2016.00104 DOI=10.3389/fncel.2016.00104 ISSN=1662-5102 ABSTRACT=
Granule cells (GC) are the most numerous glutamatergic neurons in the cerebellar cortex and represent almost half of the neurons of the central nervous system. Despite recent advances, the mechanisms of how the glutamatergic synapses are formed in the cerebellum remain unclear. Among the TGF-β family, TGF-beta 1 (TGF-β1) has been described as a synaptogenic molecule in invertebrates and in the vertebrate peripheral nervous system. A recent paper from our group demonstrated that TGF-β1 increases the excitatory synapse formation in cortical neurons. Here, we investigated the role of TGF-β1 in glutamatergic cerebellar neurons. We showed that the expression profile of TGF-β1 and its receptor, TβRII, in the cerebellum is consistent with a role in synapse formation