Chapter category: Development

Branching Morphogenesis in Vertebrate Neurons

This chapter appears in the following book:

Branching Morphogenesis

Edited by: Jamie A. Davies
ISBN: 0-387-25615-6
» Get more information about this book at landesbioscience.com «

Chapter authors:
Katherine M. Kollins and Roger W. Davenport

[+] view image

Within the developing vertebrate nervous system, strict control of branching morphogenesis is essential for establishing appropriate circuitry, since the geometry of neuronal arbors critically influences their functional properties. Thus, identification of the specific molecules and mechanisms involved in regulating neuronal branching morphogenesis has been the focus of intense study within recent decades, producing tremendous advances in the understanding of neuronal differentiation. Intrinsic regulation of branching morphogenesis arises through a combination of background gene expression, structural constraints imposed by cellular dimensions, biophysical properties of intracellular cytoskeletal elements, and cell-autonomous control of arbor topology and branching probability. Epigenetic influences on the pattern of branching morphogenesis instead arise from temporally or spatially constrained microenvironmental cues including homotypic and heterotypic cell-cell interactions, substrate-bound and diffusible chemoattractants and chemorepellents, hormones and growth factors, and patterns and levels of electrical activity. Ultimately, such signaling must converge at the level of the cytoskeleton, with the structural changes characteristic of neuronal branching arising through dynamic regulation of the actin cytomatrix, microtubules, and a variety of microtubule-associated proteins. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the current understanding of branching morphogenesis in developing vertebrate neurons, emphasizing recent findings describing key cellular mechanisms and molecular signaling pathways underlying branch formation and stabilization.

» Access chapter for $19

Additional chapters from this book:

Branching Morphogenesis of the Prostate

A.A. Thomson and P.C. Marker

The prostate is a male sex accessory organ whose development is regulated by androgens and mesenchymal/epithelial interactions. The organ comprises branched epithelial ducts within a stroma consis...

Branching Morphogenesis in Vertebrate Neurons

Katherine M. Kollins and Roger W. Davenport

How Is the Branching of Animal Blood Vessels Implemented?

Sybill Patan

The Blood Circulatory System: Tree Analogy Versus Network: For centuries, the cardiovascular system of animals has been described as a branching tree with the heart in its very centre.1 Although thi...

Extracellular Matrix Remodeling in Breast Branching Morphogenesis and Breast Cancer: The Double-Edged Sword

Eva A Turley and Mina J Bissell

That differentiation and malignancy are different faces of the same coin is now almost a clich?.1-4 Although widely accepted as fact, exactly what are the points of similarity and differences that c...

Why a Book on Branching, and Why Now?

Jamie A. Davies

In a world overloaded with information, in which university library shelves bend under the weight of worthy tomes and the number of journals has been doubling every fifteen years,1,2 a prospective r...

Afterword

Jamie Davies

The subject of this book - branching morphogenesis - may seem to be very narrow, yet its chapters extend into a surprising number of aspects of modern biological science. The systems examined range ...

Uterine Glands

Thomas E. Spencer, Karen D. Carpenter, Kanako Hayashi and Jianbo Hu

This chapter focuses on the comparative development and mechanisms regulating branch ing morphogenesis of endometrial glands in the mammalian uterus. All uteri contain endometrial glands that secret...

Physical Mechanisms of Branching Morphogenesis in Animals: From Viscous Fingering to Cartilage Rings

Vincent Fleury, Tomoko Watanabe, Thi-Hahn Nguyen, Mathieu Unbekandt, David Warburton, Marcus Dejmek, Minh Binh, Nguyen, Anke Lindner and Laurent Schwartz

From a physicist’s point of view, and regardless of the genetic controls, the branching mechanisms of many organs and glands look similar. Most generally, an epithelium forms a pouch-like sheet whic...

Branching Morphogenesis in Mammalian Kidneys

Jamie A. Davies

Branching morphogenesis is an important mechanism for the development of the permanent kidneys of reptiles, mammals and birds. Branching of renal epithelia is similar to that seen in the other organ...

Branching in Colonial Hydroids

I.A. Kosevich

Cnidarians are primitive multi-cellular animals whose body is constructed of two epi thelial layers and whose gastric cavity has only one opening. Most cnidarians are colo nial. Colonial hydroids wi...

Branching in Fungal Hyphae and Fungal Tissues: Growing Mycelia in a Desktop Computer

David Moore, Liam J. McNulty and Audrius Meskauskas

In mycelial fungi the formation of hyphal branches is the only way in which the number of growing points can be increased. Cross walls always form at right angles to the long axis of a hypha, and nu...

Branching of Single Cells in Arabidopsis

Daniel Bouyer and Martin Huelskamp

Branching of single cells is controlled by intracellular or extracellular cues that lead to the establishment of a polarity axis and subsequently to the local activation of growth activ ity. Three m...

Embryonic Salivary Gland Branching Morphogenesis

Tina Jaskoll and Michael Melnick

Salivary submandibular gland (SMG) morphogenesis is regulated by the functional integration of stage-specific growth factor- , cytokine- and transcription factor-mediated signaling which mediates sp...

Chapter category: Development

Branching Morphogenesis in Vertebrate Neurons

Additional chapters from this book:

SIGN IN