En passant neurotrophic action of an intermediate axonal target in the developing mammalian CNS

Hao Wang and Marc Tessier-Lavigne ()
Additional contact information
Hao Wang: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California
Marc Tessier-Lavigne: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California

Nature, 1999, vol. 401, issue 6755, 765-769

Abstract: Abstract During development, neurons extend axons to their targets, then become dependent for their survival on trophic substances secreted by their target cells. Competition for limiting amounts of these substances is thought to account for much of the extensive naturally-occurring cell death that is seen throughout the nervous system. Here we show that spinal commissural neurons, a group of long projection neurons in the central nervous system (CNS), are also dependent for their survival on trophic support from one of their intermediate targets, the floor plate of the spinal cord. This dependence occurs during a several-day-long period when their axons extend along the floor plate, following which they develop additional trophic requirements. A dependence of neurons on trophic support derived en passant from their intermediate axonal targets provides a mechanism for rapidly eliminating misprojecting neurons, which may help to prevent the formation of aberrant neuronal circuits during the development of the nervous system.

Date: 1999
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/44521 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:401:y:1999:i:6755:d:10.1038_44521

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/44521

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().