Consequences of Inhibiting Amyloid Precursor Protein Processing Enzymes on Synaptic Function and Plasticity

Figure 3

The roles of BACE1 in synaptic function. Besides cleaving APP to produce Aβ peptides, BACE1 has been found to have other substrates. It can process the β2 subunit of the voltage-gated sodium (Na⁺) channels, which can regulate Na⁺ channel surface expression and in turn modulate neuronal excitability. In addition, BACE1 can cleave NRG1, which plays a crucial role in myelination and NRG1/ErbB4 signaling. Recently, it has been showed that NRG1 can regulate cell surface expression of α7-nAChRs, which can also affect synaptic transmission.