Lecture #7 Flashcards
what are hubs that allow neurons to make further selections to their direction?
intermediate targets
describe the growth cone:
a large structure that is composed of different cytoskeleton elements: the lamellar portion has a cortical actin ring and there are microtubules entering the central domain
what is the function of the actin in the growth cone?
essential to govern the attraction, repulsion, growth, and collapse of the growth cone
what does chemotropic mean?
there is a source that allows to move in that direction
describe the localization and activity of NGF:
released by specific targets an has guidance activity, because the polarized presence of this growth promoting molecule contributes to instruct guidance
in the simplest organisms, what is chemotaxis controlled through?
imposed by molecular systems abed on G proteins
in more complex organisms, what is chemotaxis controlled by?
tyrosine receptors - the ability to switch on and ff and fine tune the response is not something typically observed with G protein couples receptors
what are our neurons instructed by?
intermediate targets along the way
what re instructor molecules?
attractive and repulsive molecules that can often be secreted in the form of gradients or contact dependent interactions
what can the growth cone be compared to?
a GPS
what are the four canonical families of guidance molecules in the brain?
- ephrins (Eph receptor)
- semaphorins (Plexin / Nap receptor)
- netrin (DCC / Unc5)
- slit (ROBO recetor)
what are the three major properties of the receptors in the brain?
- they can act in short or long range
- they are multifunctional → same molecule can attract or repel depending on the context
- they are evolutionarily conserved
what is the function of the tip cell in blood vessels during development?
just like the growth cone, it extends the filopodia and expresses a lot of receptor for the guidance molecules to be also used by axons
what does a deterministic view of axon targeting mean?
you have a matching system ligand → the transcriptional identity of the different classes of neurons is linked to the expression of different receipts and therefore to a different connectivity
where are the commissural neurons of the spinal cord located?
sit at the dorsal part of the spinal cord and need to travel down with their axon to the floor plate, then cross it to reach the other side and continue to grow contro-laterally from the spinal cord to the brain
how do the commissural neurons know to cross the floor plate?
the floor plate secretes a chemotractant → netrin
what does the name netrin mean?
the one who guides
what does netrin resemble?
members of the laminin superfamily
where are netrins most often bound?
the ECM - they are secreted molecules but don’t go very far away
what is the main receptor used by netrin?
DCC whose activation by netrin activates an attractive response
how is repulsion with DCC triggered?
when DCC couples with a co-receotor called UNC-5 (uncoordinated)
triggers long range repulsion
what happens when UNC-5 is by itself?
it triggers short range repulsion