| Modification Notes |
Long pentraxins are a family of highly conserved proteins that are expressed in the brain and central nervous system, and form multimeric complexes (1-4). Neuronal pentraxin 1 (NP1), NP2, and neuronal pentraxin receptor (NPR) are members of the long pentraxins that represent a neuronal uptake pathway that may function during synapse formation and remodeling (5). The NP1 gene is located on chromosome 17q25.1-q25.2 and the protein product mediates the uptake of synaptic material, including the presynaptic snake venom toxin, taipoxin (3). NP2, whose function is unknown, is located on chromosome 7q21.3-122.1 and like NP1 contains several potential N-linked glycosylation sites (3,4). NPR is expressed on the cell membrane and can form heteropentamers with NP1 and NP2 that can be released from the cell membrane by proteolysis (5). |