Dorsal commissural axon guidance in the developing spinal cord

Sandy Alvarez; Supraja G Varadarajan; Samantha J Butler

doi:10.1016/bs.ctdb.2020.10.009

Dorsal commissural axon guidance in the developing spinal cord

Curr Top Dev Biol. 2021:142:197-231. doi: 10.1016/bs.ctdb.2020.10.009. Epub 2020 Nov 19.

Authors

Sandy Alvarez¹, Supraja G Varadarajan², Samantha J Butler³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurobiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Molecular Biology Interdepartmental Doctoral Program, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
² Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, United States.
³ Department of Neurobiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States. Electronic address: butlersj@ucla.edu.

Abstract

Commissural axons have been a key model system for identifying axon guidance signals in vertebrates. This review summarizes the current thinking about the molecular and cellular mechanisms that establish a specific commissural neural circuit: the dI1 neurons in the developing spinal cord. We assess the contribution of long- and short-range signaling while sequentially following the developmental timeline from the birth of dI1 neurons, to the extension of commissural axons first circumferentially and then contralaterally into the ventral funiculus.

Keywords: Axon guidance; BMP; Chemotaxis; Commissural axons; Ephrin; Floor plate; Haptotaxis; Netrin1; Neural development; Robo; Roof plate; Slit.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Axon Guidance*
Axons
Neurons
Spinal Cord*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding