Regulation of the morphology of neuronal dendritic spines involved in synaptic function

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We analyzed changes in the morphology of cultured fibroblasts and postsynaptic spines in cultured neurons induced by activation of Rho family proteins. The activation of Rho family proteins was artificially triggered by photoactivation-dependent translocation of Rho family GEFs to the plasma membrane. In fibroblasts, RacGEF induced the formation of lamellipodia, and RhoGEF induced the formation of stress fibers. In neurons, RacGEF increased the number of spines, and RhoGEF reduced the size of spines. The changes in fibroblasts and synaptic spines were consistent with previous reports. These results show that synaptic spines can be manipulated by artificial activation of Rho family proteins.