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Review
. 2019 Feb;14(2):206-216.
doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.244776.

Contactins in the central nervous system: role in health and disease

Madhurima Chatterjee  1 , Detlev Schild  2 , Charlotte E Teunissen  1
Affiliations
Review

Contactins in the central nervous system: role in health and disease

Madhurima Chatterjee et al. Neural Regen Res. 2019 Feb.

Abstract

Contactins are a group of cell adhesion molecules that are mainly expressed in the brain and play pivotal roles in the organization of axonal domains, axonal guidance, neuritogenesis, neuronal development, synapse formation and plasticity, axo-glia interactions and neural regeneration. Contactins comprise a family of six members. Their absence leads to malformed axons and impaired nerve conduction. Contactin mediated protein complex formation is critical for the organization of the axon in early central nervous system development. Mutations and differential expression of contactins have been identified in neuro-developmental or neurological disorders. Taken together, contactins are extensively studied in the context of nervous system development. This review summarizes the physiological roles of all six members of the Contactin family in neurodevelopment as well as their involvement in neurological/neurodevelopmental disorders.

Keywords: cell adhesion molecule; Contactins; axonal domain; neurogenesis; synaptogenesis; autism spectrum disorder; neuro-developmental disorder; neurological disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

None

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
General structure of the contactins. The six members of the contactin sub-family share a common structure in vertebrates. The extracellular component has immunoglobulin-like domains followed by four fibronectin III-like domains. The protein is attached to the plasma membrane with a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor and there is no intracellular domain.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overlapping and distinct expression patterns of contactins in different areas of brain.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Contactin-1 and contactin-2 in axonal domain organization. CNTNAP: Contactin associated protein; NaV: sodium channel, voltage-gated, type II; KV: Potassium channel, voltage gated; NrCAM: neuronal cell adhesion molecule.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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