RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Repellent Guidance of Regenerating Optic Axons by Chondroitin Sulfate Glycosaminoglycans in Zebrafish
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 842
OP 853
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.22-03-00842.2002
VO 22
IS 3
A1 Catherina G. Becker
A1 Thomas Becker
YR 2002
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/22/3/842.abstract
AB We analyzed the role of chondroitin sulfate (CS) glycosaminoglycans, putative inhibitors of axonal regeneration in mammals, in the regenerating visual pathway of adult zebrafish. In the adult, CS immunoreactivity was not detectable before or after an optic nerve crush in the optic nerve and tract but was constitutively present in developing and adult nonretinorecipient pretectal brain nuclei, where CSs may form a boundary preventing regenerating optic fibers from growing into these inappropriate locations. Enzymatic removal of CSs by chondroitinase ABC after optic nerve crush significantly increased the number of animals showing erroneous growth of optic axons into the nonretinorecipient magnocellular superficial/posterior pretectal nucleus (83% vs 42% in controls). In vitro, a substrate border of CSs, but not heparan sulfates, strongly repelled regenerating retinal axons from adult zebrafish. We conclude that CSs contribute to repellent axon guidance during regeneration of the optic projection in zebrafish.