RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A Common Exocytotic Mechanism Mediates Axonal and Dendritic Outgrowth
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 3830
OP 3838
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.21-11-03830.2001
VO 21
IS 11
A1 Sonia Martinez-Arca
A1 Silvia Coco
A1 Gaëll Mainguy
A1 Ursula Schenk
A1 Philipp Alberts
A1 Pascale Bouillé
A1 Mauro Mezzina
A1 Alain Prochiantz
A1 Michela Matteoli
A1 Daniel Louvard
A1 Thierry Galli
YR 2001
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/21/11/3830.abstract
AB Outgrowth of the dendrites and the axon is the basis of the establishment of the neuronal shape, and it requires addition of new membrane to both growing processes. It is not yet clear whether one or two exocytotic pathways are responsible for the respective outgrowth of axons and dendrites. We have previously shown that tetanus neurotoxin-insensitive vesicle-associated membrane protein (TI-VAMP) defines a novel network of tubulovesicular structures present both at the leading edge of elongating dendrites and axons of immature hippocampal neurons developing in primary culture and that TI-VAMP is an essential protein for neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells. Here we show that the expression of the N-terminal domain of TI-VAMP inhibits the outgrowth of both dendrites and axons in neurons in primary culture. This effect is more prominent at the earliest stages of the development of neurons in vitro. Expression of the N-terminal domain deleted form of TI-VAMP has the opposite effect. This constitutively active form of TI-VAMP localizes as the endogenous protein, particularly concentrating at the leading edge of growing axons. Our results suggest that a common exocytotic mechanism that relies on TI-VAMP mediates both axonal and dendritic outgrowth in developing neurons.