Emerging themes in GABAergic synapse development

Glutamatergic synapse development has been rigorously investigated for the past two decades at both the molecular and cell biological level yet a comparable intensity of investigation into the cellular and molecular mechanisms of GABAergic synapse development has been lacking until relatively recently. This review will provide a detailed overview of the current understanding of GABAergic synapse development with a particular emphasis on assembly of synaptic components, molecular mechanisms of synaptic development, and a subset of human disorders which manifest when GABAergic synapse development is disrupted. An unexpected and emerging theme from these studies is that glutamatergic and GABAergic synapse development share a number of overlapping molecular and cell biological mechanisms that will be emphasized in this review.

► Glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses differ at the ultrastructural and molecular level.
► Thus far, little is known about the order of assembly of components at GABAergic synapses.
► Many molecules mediate both glutamatergic and GABAergic synapse development.
► The depolarizing action of GABA-mediated currents drives glutamatergic synapse development.
► An underlying cause of neurological disease is aberrant GABAergic synapse development.