Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 36, Issue 4, Pages 1071-1085Publisher
SOC NEUROSCIENCE
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2430-15.2016
Keywords
cytoskeleton; dendrites; development; microtubule dynamics; neuron; polarity
Categories
Funding
- Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO-ALW-VICI, NWO-ALW-VIDI)
- Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMW-TOP)
- European Science Foundation (ESF-EURYI)
- European Research Council (ERC-StG)
- Swiss National Science Foundation [31003A_135631]
- National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) SYNAPSY - Swiss National Science Foundation [51AU40_125759]
- International Foundation for Research on Paraplegia
- Hans Wilsdorf Foundation
- FP7 European Union Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship
- Swiss National Science Foundation
- Spanish Education Ministry
Ask authors/readers for more resources
In cultured vertebrate neurons, axons have a uniform arrangement of microtubules with plus-ends distal to the cell body (plus-end-out), whereas dendrites contain mixed polarity orientations with both plus-end-out and minus-end-out oriented microtubules. Rather than non-uniform microtubules, uniparallel minus-end-out microtubules are the signature of dendrites in Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans neurons. To determine whether mixed microtubule organization is a conserved feature of vertebrate dendrites, we used live-cell imaging to systematically analyze microtubule plus-end orientations in primary cultures of rat hippocampal and cortical neurons, dentate granule cells in mous eorganotypic slices, and layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons in the somatosensory cortex of living mice. In vitro and in vivo, all microtubules had a plus-end-out orientation in axons, whereas microtubules in dendrites had mixed orientations. When dendritic microtubules were severed by laser-based microsurgery, we detected equal numbers of plus-and minus-end-out microtubule orientations throughout the dendritic processes. In dendrites, the minus-end-out microtubules were generally more stable and comparable with plus-end-out microtubules in axons. Interestingly, at early stages of neuronal development in nonpolarized cells, newly formed neurites already contained microtubules of opposite polarity, suggesting that the establishment of uniform plus-end-out microtubules occurs during axon formation. We propose a model in which the selective formation of uniform plus-end-out microtubules in the axon is a critical process underlying neuronal polarization.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available