Previous results have shown that glial cells provide a soft environment for the neurons of the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). This raises the question whether neurons are confined to the CNS and cannot wander off into more rigid tissues, such as brain capillary walls. We investigated the mechanical properties and force generation of extending mouse retinal ganglion cells and NG108-15 growth cones (GCs) using different atomic force microscope (AFM)-based methods. For the first time, to our knowledge, we were able to measure the forward pushing forces at the leading edge of outgrowing neuronal GCs with our drift-stabilized AFM. Our results demonstrate that these GCs have neither the required stability nor the ability to produce forces necessary to penetrate tissues that are at least an order of magnitude stiffer.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cm.21080 | DOI Listing |
Front Microbiol
January 2025
Centre Armand Frappier Sante Biotechnologie, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laval, QC, Canada.
The minimal sampling effort required to report the microbiome composition of insect surveyed in natural environment is often based on empirical or logistical constraints. This question was addressed with the white pine cone beetle, (Schwarz), a devastating insect pest of seed orchards. It attacks and stop the growth of the cones within which it will spend its life, on the ground.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Genet
January 2025
Department of Molecular Biosciences, Program in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, KU Center for Genomics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America.
Recent studies in vertebrates and Caenorhabditis elegans have reshaped models of how the axon guidance cue UNC-6/Netrin functions in dorsal-ventral axon guidance, which was traditionally thought to form a ventral-to-dorsal concentration gradient that was actively sensed by growing axons. In the vertebrate spinal cord, floorplate Netrin1 was shown to be largely dispensable for ventral commissural growth. Rather, short range interactions with Netrin1 on the ventricular zone radial glial stem cells was shown to guide ventral commissural axon growth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNetw Neurosci
December 2024
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Connectome generative models, otherwise known as generative network models, provide insight into the wiring principles underpinning brain network organization. While these models can approximate numerous statistical properties of empirical networks, they typically fail to explicitly characterize an important contributor to brain organization-axonal growth. Emulating the chemoaffinity-guided axonal growth, we provide a novel generative model in which axons dynamically steer the direction of propagation based on distance-dependent chemoattractive forces acting on their growth cones.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTissue Cell
December 2024
Department of Pharmacy, Al-Zahrawi University College, Karbala, Iraq.
Netrin-1, an essential extracellular protein, has gained significant attention due to its pivotal role in guiding axon and cell migration during embryonic development. The fundamental significance of netrin-1 in developmental biology is reflected in its high conservation across different species as a part of the netrin family. The bifunctional nature of netrin-1 demonstrates its functional versatility, as it can function as either a repellent or an attractant according to the context and the expressed receptors on the target cells including the deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC), the uncoordinated-5 (UNC5), DSCAM, Neogenin-1, Adenosine A2b and Draxin receptors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Biol Cell
December 2024
Department of Neuroscience, Jefferson Center for Synaptic Biology, Vickie and Jack Farber Institute for Neuroscience, Sydney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107.
Development of neuronal connections is spatially and temporally controlled by extracellular cues which often activate their cognate cell surface receptors and elicit localized cellular responses. Here, we demonstrate the use of an optogenetic tool to activate receptor signaling locally to induce actin-mediated growth cone remodeling in neurons. Based on the light-induced interaction of light between Cryptochrome 2 (CRY2) and CIB1, we generated a bicistronic vector to co-expresses CRY2 fused to the intracellular domain of a guidance receptor and a membrane-anchored CIB1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!