Providence, R.I.-based Brown University researchers identified a genetic mechanism that guides axon growth in developing neurons, a finding that challenges a long-standing assumption in neurobiology and could inform efforts to repair neural connections damaged by stroke or spinal cord injury.
Researchers at the university’s Carney Institute for Brain Science studied neurons that connect the left and right sides of the central nervous system at four different stages of development, according to a Sept. 16 news release.
They found that as axons crossed the spinal cord midline, neurons shifted their gene expression. The switch triggered guidance molecules that helped direct axons toward their next destination, according to the study, published Sept. 15 in PNAS.
The discovery challenges a long-held assumption that axon guidance signals come from the axon’s tip rather than the neuron’s cell body, according to study author Alexander Jaworski, PhD, an associate professor of brain science at the Carney Institute. Researchers studying nerve regeneration can already prompt axons to grow after injury, but getting them to travel to the correct target has remained a barrier, the release said.
The research also generated gene expression data from more than 12,000 neurons, creating what the authors called a “genetic atlas” of neuronal development.
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