Background information
Long pentraxins are a family of highly conserved proteins that are expressed in the brain and central nervous system, and form multimeric complexes. 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. The NP1 gene is located on chromosome 17q25.3 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 7q22.1 and like NP1 contains several potential N-linked glycosylation sites. 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.
