Synaptophysin (SYP)

Synaptophysin is a synaptic vesicle glycoprotein with four transmembrane domains weighing 38kDa. It is present in neuroendocrine cells and in virtually all neurons in the brain and spinal cord that participate in synaptic transmission. It acts as a marker for neuroendocrine tumors, and its ubiquity at the synapse has lead to the use of synaptophysin immunostaining for quantification of synapses.The exact function of the protein is unknown: it interacts with the essential synaptic vesicle protein synaptobrevin, but when the synaptophysin gene is experimentally inactivated in animals, they still develop and function normally.Synaptophysin can refer both to the vesicle membrane protein.