This study uses mouse models to answer how BACE1 inhibitory drugs will be beneficial to Alzheimer’s patients. Hu et al. find that sequentially increased deletion of BACE1 in one adult Alzheimer’s mouse model reverses preexisting amyloid plaques and mitigates synaptic failures.

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Homeostatic synaptic downscaling is a negative feedback response to chronic elevated network activity to reduce the firing rate of neurons. This form of synaptic plasticity decreases the strength of individual synapses to the same proportion, or in a multiplicative manner. Because of this, synaptic downscaling has been hypothesized to counter the potential run-away excitation due to Hebbian type of long term potentiation (LTP), while preserving relative synaptic weight encoded in individual synapses and thus memory information. In this article, we will review the current knowledge on the signaling and molecular mechanisms of synaptic downscaling. Specifically, we focus on three general areas. First the functional roles of several immediate early genes such as Plk2, Homer1a, Arc and Narp are discussed. Secondly, we examine the current knowledge on the regulation of synaptic protein levels by ubiquitination and transcriptional repression in synaptic downscaling. Thirdly, we review the dynamics of signaling molecules such as kinases and phosphatases critical for synaptic downscaling, and their regulation of synaptic scaffolding proteins. Finally we briefly discuss the heterogeneity of homeostatic synaptic downscaling mechanisms. This article is part of the Special Issue entitled 'Homeostatic Synaptic Plasticity'.

Clinical investigations present much evidence that the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) antagonist mifepristone leads to a rapid amelioration of depression. The molecular mechanisms of mifepristone involved in the treatment of depression are not fully understood. Depression is associated with hippocampal plasticity, for which increased excitatory amino acid (EAA) release in CA3 induced by chronic stress is responsible, and glucocorticoids have a permissive role and act synergistically with EAAs in producing neuronal damage. Moreover, glucocorticoids increase synapsin I, which has a key role in the release of neurotransmitter, including EAAs. Hereby, we hypothesize that major depression involves synapsin I alteration and that mifepristone blocks this alteration. In the present study, we observed both the expression of hippocampal synapsin I and depression-associated behavior in a rat model of depression induced by chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS). The result showed that a region-dependent synapsin I alteration occurs in the rat hippocampus after 21 days of CUMS, that is, it increases in dentate gyrus (DG)/CA3 and decreases in the CA1 region. Correlation analysis indicated that the decrease of synapsin I in CA1 is highly correlated with the increase in the DG/CA3 subfield. Simultaneously, the region-dependent alteration of synapsin I is correlated with depression-associated behaviors. Both the alteration of synapsin I and the depression-associated behavior were rapidly restored after treatment with mifepristone for 1 week. The result suggests that the molecular mechanism underlying the treatment of depression with mifepristone is associated with the rapid repair of the synaptic alteration.

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