Abstract
As so vividly described by Cajal, the nerve growth cone is the amoeboid, leading edge of the growing neurite. It occurs only during a narrow segment of the neuron’s life, during the time between terminal mitosis and synaptogenesis and, possibly in somewhat different form, during regeneration. As the growing, advancing tip, the nerve growth cone plays a crucial role in nervous system development. It is critical for the establishment of the neuron’s unusual geometry and high degree of polarity because it appears to be the main site of insertion of new plasmalemma1 components for surface expansion (Pfenninger and Maylié-Pfenninger, 1981b; Pfenninger and Johnson, 1983). Furthermore, the growth cone is the structure responsible for vectorial growth into the appropriate target area because it is capable of locomotion, pathfinding and Chemotaxis (see below). Last but not least, it is the structure which recognizes the target cell and triggers synaptogenesis.
“I had the good fortune to behold for the first time that fantastic ending of the growing axon. In my sections of the three-days chick embryo, this ending appeared as a concentration of protoplasm of conical form, endowed with amoeboid movements. It could be compared to a living battering-ram, soft and flexible, which advances, pushing aside mechanically the obstacles which it finds in its way, until it reaches the area of its peripheral distribution. This curious terminal club, I christened the growth cone” (Ramón y Cajal, 1937).
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© 1984 Plenum Press, New York
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Pfenninger, K.H. (1984). Molecular Biology of the Nerve Growth Cone: A Perspective. In: Lauder, J.M., Nelson, P.G. (eds) Gene Expression and Cell-Cell Interactions in the Developing Nervous System. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 181. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4868-9_1
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