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Model for Membrane Movements in the Neural Growth Cone

Abstract

HERE I wish to describe a model for the movements of cellular membranes that is based on observations of the neural growth cone, the structure found at the tips of growing nerve cells1–3. The principal feature of this model is that the contractile proteins responsible for the movement are linked in a polar fashion to membrane surfaces. This gives each region a preferred direction of movement which will be represented by an “arrow” lying in the plane of the membrane. If these arrows are distributed over the inner surface of a cellular structure such as a growth cone, then they can give rise in a simple way to local areas of cellular extension or invagination, and produce many of the features seen by light and electron microscopy.

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BRAY, D. Model for Membrane Movements in the Neural Growth Cone. Nature 244, 93–96 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/244093a0

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