Researchers find the mechanism used by neurons to create and maintain neuronal extensions
A scientific team has found a new molecule mechanism which is essential for the creation and maintenance of the neuronal axons, according to a scientific article in the journal Nature Communications in which Eduardo Soriano, Professor at the Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology and Head of the Research Group of Neurobiology of Neural Development and Regeneration of the UB, participated.
A scientific team has found a new molecule mechanism which is essential for the creation and maintenance of the neuronal axons, according to a scientific article in the journal Nature Communications in which Eduardo Soriano, Professor at the Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology and Head of the Research Group of Neurobiology of Neural Development and Regeneration of the UB, participated.
Neurons are constantly sending substances and signals through all their extension, which in humans can get to a one-meter length. Neural axons -prolongations of these neurons- carry a network of microtubules, which are thin filaments that help its growth, as means of transport at the same time.
The research team, led by the expert Jens Lüders, from the Biomedical Research Institute (IRB Barcelona), focused his work on the study of neurons of mice hippocampus. “Neurons are cells that depend on microtubules for both the intern transport of compounds and the communication between them but we didnʼt understand how they were created and organized” said Jens Lüders.
According to the authors, the differed neurons -that lost the capacity of division- reuse a molecular complex which was described exclusively in cell division in order to create new microtubules within the axons. The new work is important to improve the understanding of neurodegenerative diseases in which the microtubule network is harmed, such as Alzheimerʼs.
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