Pioneering and pathfinding by an identified neuron in the embryonic leech.

Numerous investigations of pathfinding by embryonic neurons, including many leech neurons, have demonstrated that pathfinding is precise. Neurons project the correct number of growth cones which grow to their target areas by making specific choices along the way. However, one leech mechanosensory neuron, the dorsal P (PD) neuron, is unusual in the sense that it initially projects an excessive number of growth cones. One of the growth cones will form the peripheral axon while the others are eliminated. This suggests that PD is one of the earliest neurons to project a peripheral axon, i.e., it may pioneer a peripheral nerve, and that it searches with its multiple growth cones for an external cue which can guide it to its target area. Examination of the early PD axon with light and electron microscopy reveals that it indeed is the first growth cone in its nerve and that it grows in contact with a large non-neuronal (DV) cell until it reaches its target area. The DV cell has a unique morphology and location: a large cell body with thin flat processes extending from the edge of the ganglion to the target area of the PD. It is also present with its unique morphology prior to axonal outgrowth by the PD neuron. These features suggest that the DV cell may be an attractive substrate and/or axonal guidance cue for the PD peripheral axon and therefore for the entire peripheral nerve.