Song Yuyu, Brady Scott T
Department of Genetics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Methods Cell Biol. 2013;115:125-37. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-407757-7.00009-8.
Biochemical specialization of cellular microtubules has emerged as a primary mechanism in specifying microtubule dynamics and function. However, study of specific subcellular populations of cytoplasmic microtubules has been limited, particularly in the nervous system. The complexity of nervous tissue makes it difficult to distinguish neuronal microtubules from glial microtubules, and axonal microtubules from dendritic and cell body microtubules. The problem is further compounded by the finding that a large fraction of neuronal tubulin is lost during standard preparations of brain tubulin, and this population of stable microtubules is enriched in axons. Here, we consider a unique biological model that provides a unique opportunity to study axonal microtubules both in situ and in vitro: isolated axoplasm from the squid giant axon. The axoplasm model represents a powerful system for addressing fundamental questions of microtubule structure and function in the axon.
细胞微管的生化特化已成为决定微管动力学和功能的主要机制。然而，对细胞质微管特定亚细胞群体的研究一直有限，尤其是在神经系统中。神经组织的复杂性使得区分神经元微管和胶质微管，以及轴突微管与树突和细胞体微管变得困难。此外，在脑微管蛋白的标准制备过程中，很大一部分神经元微管蛋白会丢失，而这一稳定微管群体在轴突中更为丰富，这一发现使问题更加复杂。在此，我们考虑一种独特的生物学模型，它为在原位和体外研究轴突微管提供了独特的机会：从鱿鱼巨轴突中分离出的轴质。轴质模型是一个强大的系统，可以解决轴突中微管结构和功能的基本问题。
