Neurotrophins are known to regulate dendritic development, but the mechanisms that mediate neurotrophin-dependent dendrite formation are largely unknown. Here we show that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) induces the formation of primary dendrites in cortical neurons by a protein synthesis-independent mechanism. BDNF leads to the rapid activation of PI3-kinase, MAP kinase, and PLC-gamma...

The influence of UV irradiation on pigmentation is well established, but the molecular and cellular mechanisms controlling dendrite formation remain incompletely understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small RNAs that participate in various cellular processes by suppressing the expression of target mRNAs. In this study, we investigated the expression of miRNAs in response to UVB irradiati...

Semaphorin 3A (Sema3A) is a secreted factor known to guide axon/dendrite growth and neuronal migration. We found that it also acts as a polarizing factor for axon/dendrite development in cultured hippocampal neurons. Exposure of the undifferentiated neurite to localized Sema3A suppressed its differentiation into axon and promoted dendrite formation, resulting in axon formation away from the Sem...

Neuronal activity and neurotrophins play a central role in the formation, maintenance, and plasticity of dendritic arbors. Here, we show that neuronal activity, mediated by electrical stimulation, KCl depolarization, or cholinergic receptor activation, promotes reversible dendrite formation in sympathetic neurons and that this effect is enhanced by NGF. Activity-dependent dendrite formation is ...

Over the last few decades, there have been many mechanisms proposed to describe the formation of the non-dendritic microstructures during Semisolid Metal (SSM) processing; including dendrite fragmentation, spherical growth, cellular growth and recalescence. Dendrite fragmentation is the most popular mechanism of all these hypotheses. It is the purpose of the present article to examine the morph...

The class-specific transcription factors Knot and Cut act during dendrite arbor development to define the characteristic dendrite branching pattern of the Drosophila class IV dendritic arborisation sensory neurons. Knot mediates dendrite arbor outgrowth and branching via a microtubule-based program that includes upregulation of the microtubule severing protein Spastin. On the other hand, Cut pr...

Growth of a properly complex dendrite arbor is a key step in neuronal differentiation and a prerequisite for neural circuit formation. Diverse cell surface molecules, such as the clustered protocadherins (Pcdhs), have long been proposed to regulate circuit formation through specific cell-cell interactions. Here, using transgenic and conditional knockout mice to manipulate γ-Pcdh repertoire in t...

A coarse and a fine dendrite structure were produced using the newly developed DS-superalloy ExAl7 ( IN792 with 2-3 wt.-% Re) by changing the conditions of directional solidification. The two microstructures differed in their primary dendrite arm spacing by a factor of 1.6. During aging, very fine TCP phase precipitates (length approximately 20 m, volume fraction ~ 1 %) were precipitated in the...

Microtubules in the axon are uniformly oriented, while microtubules in the dendrite are nonuniformly oriented. We have proposed that these distinct microtubule polarity patterns may arise from a redistribution of molecular motor proteins previously used for mitosis of the developing neuroblast. To address this issue, we performed studies on neuroblastoma cells that undergo mitosis but also gene...

Vertebrate and invertebrate dendrites are information-processing compartments that can be found on both central and peripheral neurons. Elucidating the molecular underpinnings of information processing in the nervous system ultimately requires an understanding of the genetic pathways that regulate dendrite formation and maintenance. Despite the importance of dendrite development, few forward ge...