Neurite outgrowth assays are the most common phenotypic screen to assess chemical effects on neuronal cells. Current automated assays involve expensive equipment, lengthy sample preparation and handling, costly reagents and slow rates of data acquisition and analysis. We have developed a high throughput screen (HTS) for neurite outgrowth using a robust neuronal cell model coupled to fast and in...

FE65 is an adaptor protein that binds to the amyloid precursor protein (APP). As such, FE65 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. In addition, evidence suggests that FE65 is involved in brain development. It is generally believed that FE65 participates in these processes by recruiting various interacting partners to form functional complexes. Here, we show that via its...

Stem cell therapies are currently gaining momentum in the treatment of spinal cord injury (SCI). However, unsatisfied intrinsic neurite growth capacity constitutes significant obstacles for injured spinal cord repair and ultimately results in neurological dysfunction. The present study assessed the efficacy of thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1), a neurite outgrowth-promoting molecule, modified bone marro...

The process of neurite extension after activation of the TrkA tyrosine kinase receptor by nerve growth factor (NGF) involves complex signaling pathways. Stimulation of sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1), the enzyme that phosphorylates sphingosine to form sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), is part of the functional TrkA signaling repertoire. In this paper, we report that in PC12 cells and dorsal root gang...

Neurite growth requires neurite extension and retraction, which are associated with protein degradation. Autophagy is a conserved bulk degradation pathway that regulates several cellular processes. However, little is known about autophagic regulation during early neurite growth. In this study, we investigated whether autophagy was involved in early neurite growth and how it regulated neurite gr...

Chemicals that specifically alter human neurite outgrowth pose a hazard for the development of the nervous system. The identification of such compounds remains a major challenge, especially in a human test system. To address this issue, we developed an imaging-based procedure in LUHMES human neuronal precursor cells to quantify neurite growth of unfixed cultures. Live imaging allowed the simult...

Rho guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) control the cytoskeletal dynamics that power neurite outgrowth. This process consists of dynamic neurite initiation, elongation, retraction, and branching cycles that are likely to be regulated by specific spatiotemporal signaling networks, which cannot be resolved with static, steady-state assays. We present NeuriteTracker, a computer-vision approach to ...

The effects of methylmercury (CH3Hg) or mercuric chloride (HgCl(2)) on neurite outgrowth and cell viability were quantified using undifferentiated (unprimed) and differentiated (primed) pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells. In unprimed cells, following 24-h exposure, CH3Hg significantly decreased NGF-stimulated neurite outgrowth at concentrations of 0.3-3 microM. However, HgCl(2) significantly increas...

BACKGROUND To investigate the intricate nervous processes involved in many biological activities by computerized image analysis, accurate and reproducible labeling and measurement of neurites are prerequisite. We have developed an automated neurite analysis method to assist this task. METHODS Our approach can be considered as automated with certain user interaction in setting initial paramete...