PUBLICATION

Pioneer axons employ Cajal's battering ram to enter the spinal cord

Authors
Nichols, E.L., Smith, C.J.
ID
ZDB-PUB-190206-6
Date
2019
Source
Nature communications   10: 562 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Smith, Cody
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Ganglia, Spinal/anatomy & histology
  • Ganglia, Spinal/cytology
  • Spinal Nerve Roots/anatomy & histology*
  • Spinal Nerve Roots/cytology
  • Axons
  • Animals
  • Models, Biological
  • Neural Crest/cytology
  • Spinal Cord/anatomy & histology*
  • Zebrafish/anatomy & histology*
(all 10)
PubMed
30718484 Full text @ Nat. Commun.
Abstract
Sensory axons must traverse a spinal cord glia limitans to connect the brain with the periphery. The fundamental mechanism of how these axons enter the spinal cord is still debatable; both Ramon y Cajal's battering ram hypothesis and a boundary cap model have been proposed. To distinguish between these hypotheses, we visualized the entry of pioneer axons into the dorsal root entry zone (DREZ) with time-lapse imaging in zebrafish. Here, we identify that DRG pioneer axons enter the DREZ before the arrival of neural crest cells at the DREZ. Instead, actin-rich invadopodia in the pioneer axon are necessary and sufficient for DREZ entry. Using photoactivable Rac1, we demonstrate cell-autonomous functioning of invasive structures in pioneer axon spinal entry. Together these data support the model that actin-rich invasion structures dynamically drive pioneer axon entry into the spinal cord, indicating that distinct pioneer and secondary events occur at the DREZ.
Genes / Markers
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Expression
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Phenotype
No data available
Mutations / Transgenics
Allele Construct Type Affected Genomic Region
co19TgTransgenic Insertion
    mi2001TgTransgenic Insertion
      mu271TgTransgenic Insertion
        pd1028TgTransgenic Insertion
          s1984tTgTransgenic Insertion
            scz059TgTransgenic Insertion
              vu234TgTransgenic Insertion
                w18TgTransgenic Insertion
                  w61TgTransgenic Insertion
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                    Human Disease / Model
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                    Sequence Targeting Reagents
                    No data available
                    Fish
                    No data available
                    Antibodies
                    Name Type Antigen Genes Isotypes Host Organism
                    Ab2-cttnpolyclonal
                      		IgGRabbit
                      Ab2-sox10polyclonalRabbit
                      Ab7-srcpolyclonal
                        		IgGRabbit
                        zrf-1monoclonalIgG1Mouse
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                        Engineered Foreign Genes
                        Marker Marker Type Name
                        CeruleanEFGCerulean
                        EGFPEFGEGFP
                        EosEFGEos
                        GAL4EFGGAL4
                        GFPEFGGFP
                        mCherryEFGmCherry
                        mRFPEFGmRFP
                        NTREFGNTR
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                        Citation
                        Nichols, E.L., Smith, C.J. (2019) Pioneer axons employ Cajal's battering ram to enter the spinal cord. Nature communications. 10:562.