Selective stabilization and synaptic specificity: a new cell-biological model

How are appropriate connections between neurons sorted from the overwhelming surplus of potential, yet inappropriate, connections? Despite the apparently improbable nature of the process, brains wire themselves with a high degree of reproducibility that has been conserved across evolutionary history. Here, we outline a viable cell-biological model for generating synaptic specificity that features selection of nascent synapses based on adhesion and recognition. This process uses the highly dynamic and stochastic nature of intracellular trafficking to generate reproducible patterns of synaptic connectivity.