Suppression of Neurite Elongation and Growth Cone Motility by Electrical Activity

Electrical activity may regulate a number of neuronal functions in addition to its role in transmitting signals along nerve cells. The hypothesis that electrical activity affects neurite elongation in sprouting neurons was tested by stimulating individual snail neurons isolated in cell culture. The...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1986-06, Vol.232 (4758), p.1638-1640
Main Authors: Cohan, Christopher S., Kater, Stanley B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Action Potentials
Axons - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Cell culture techniques
Cells, Cultured
Electricity
Electrophysiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Ganglia
Growth cones
Helisoma
Invertebrates
Mollusca
Nervous system
Neurites
Neurons
Neurons - physiology
Neuroscience
Physiology. Development
Pipettes
Pseudopodia
Snails
Synapses - physiology
Virology
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Summary:Electrical activity may regulate a number of neuronal functions in addition to its role in transmitting signals along nerve cells. The hypothesis that electrical activity affects neurite elongation in sprouting neurons was tested by stimulating individual snail neurons isolated in cell culture. The findings demonstrated that growth cone advance, and thus neurite elongation, is reversibly stopped during periods when action potentials are experimentally evoked. A decrease in filopodial number and growth cone area was also observed. Thus, action potentials can mediate the cessation of neurite outgrowth and thereby may influence structure and connectivity within the nervous system.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.3715470