Extracellular Remodeling by Lysosomes: An Inside-Out Mechanism of Spine Plasticity

In this issue of Neuron , Padamsey et al. (2017) demonstrate that neuronal activity triggers lysosomal fusion with the plasma membrane in dendrites. Quite unexpectedly, the lysosomes release signaling molecules that induce extracellular matrix remodeling to support long-lasting dendritic spine plasticity.