A comparative study of growth cone morphology in cultured embryonic neurons derived from wild type
PS1(+/+) and knockout
PS1(−/−) mice has been performed. Growth cones from wild type
PS1(+/+) mice were well spread and usually formed radially continuous and regular lamellar extensions, short filopodia. In contrast,
most growth cones from knockout
PS1(−/−) mice collapsed after 3–4 days in culture. Summarizing these data, we suggest that PS1 plays an important role in growth
cone structure by stabilizing the integrity of the cytoskeleton. The growth cone collapse may be the main reason of abnormal
neuronal migration and impaired synaptic function in
PS1(−/−) mice.
Key words primary neurons - presenilin 1 - presenilin 1 gene knockout - growth cone - Alzheimer’s disease
Original Russian Text © A.L. Shwartsman, S.V. Sarantseva, K.V. Solovyov, O.L. Runova, E.I. Talalaeva, M.P. Vitek, 2008, published
in Biofizika, 2008, Vol. 53, No. 6, pp. 1008–1013.