Tewari BP, Woo AM, Prim CE, Chaunsali L, Patel DC, Kimbrough IF, Engel K, Browning JL, Campbell SL, Sontheimer H. Astrocytes require perineuronal nets to maintain synaptic homeostasis in mice. Nat Neurosci. 2024 Aug;27(8):1475-1488. Epub 2024 Jul 17 PubMed.

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  1. This is a comprehensive study expanding current understanding of perineuronal nets in regulating synaptic structure and function. It must be said that the claim that “whether PNNs interact structurally and functionally with astrocytes at tripartite synapses has not been studied,” will strike some as an overstatement, considering 85 papers on PNNs and astrocytes in PubMed. However, a bit of hyperbole does not diminish the significant advance, elegant techniques, and importance of this study.

    Multiple means of disrupting PNNs are used to show how they restrict perisynaptic astrocytes in modulating synaptic function.  It will be important to determine how natural biological processes that regulate PNN deposition and remodeling can have the effects shown. Neurodegeneration in diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and epilepsy, may make it particularly difficult to distinguish if PNN involvement is a cause or an effect.

    View all comments by R. Douglas Fields

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