Growth cones turn and migrate up an immobilized gradient of the laminin IKVAV peptide.

Growth cone navigation is guided by extrinsic environmental proteins, called guidance cues. Many in vitro studies have characterized growth cone turning up and down gradients of soluble guidance cues. Although previous studies have shown that axonal elongation rates can be regulated by gradients of surface-bound molecules, there are no convincing demonstrations of growth cones turning to migrate up a surface-bound gradient of an adhesive ligand or guidance cue.