Critical Roles for Microtubules in Axonal Development and Disease

Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Results and Problems in Cell Differentiation book series (RESULTS, volume 48)

Abstract

Axons are occupied by dense arrays of cytoskeletal elements called microtubules, which are critical for generating and maintaining the architecture of the axon, and for acting as railways for the transport of organelles in both directions within the axon. Microtubules are organized and regulated by molecules that affect their assembly and disassembly, their stabilization, their association with other cytoskeletal elements, and their alignment and bundling with one another. Recent studies have accentuated the role of molecular motor proteins and microtubule-severing proteins in the establishment and maintenance of the axonal microtubule array. The growing body of knowledge on the proteins and mechanisms that regulate axonal microtubules has fostered a better understanding of how many debilitating diseases cause axons to degenerate. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an update on current knowledge of axonal microtubules and the proteins that regulate them, and to reflect on cutting-edge findings linking these proteins and mechanisms to diseases that afflict the human population.

Keywords

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Axonal Transport Mutant SOD1 Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia Cytoplasmic Dynein 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The work in our laboratory is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the State of Pennsylvania Tobacco Settlement Funds, the Alzheimer’s Association, and the Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia Foundation. Aditi Falnikar is the recipient of the Doris Willig, M.D. Research Fellowship Award.

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© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Neurobiology and AnatomyDrexel University College of MedicinePhiladelphiaUSA

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