Wen Zhexing, Zheng James Q
Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2006 Feb;16(1):52-8. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2005.12.005. Epub 2006 Jan 4.
The intricate connections of the nervous system are established, in part, by elongating axonal fibers that are directed by complex guidance systems to home in on their specific targets. The growth cone, the major motile apparatus at the tip of axons, explores its surroundings and steers the axon along a defined path to its appropriate target. Significant progress has been made in identifying the guidance molecules and receptors that regulate growth cone pathfinding, the signaling cascades underlying distinct growth cone behaviors, and the cytoskeletal components that give rise to the directional motility of the growth cone. Recent studies have also shed light on the sophisticated mechanisms and new players utilized by the growth cone during pathfinding. It is clear that axon pathfinding requires a growth cone to sample and integrate various signals both in space and in time, and subsequently to coordinate the dynamics of its membrane, cytoskeleton and adhesion to generate specific responses.
神经系统错综复杂的连接部分是由伸长的轴突纤维建立的，这些轴突纤维由复杂的导向系统引导，以找到它们特定的目标。生长锥是轴突末端主要的运动器官，它探索周围环境，并沿着特定路径引导轴突到达合适的目标。在识别调节生长锥路径寻找的导向分子和受体、不同生长锥行为背后的信号级联以及产生生长锥定向运动的细胞骨架成分方面已经取得了重大进展。最近的研究也揭示了生长锥在路径寻找过程中所利用的复杂机制和新参与者。很明显，轴突路径寻找需要生长锥在空间和时间上对各种信号进行采样和整合，随后协调其膜、细胞骨架和黏附的动态变化，以产生特定的反应。
