title: Clostridial C3 proteins: recent approaches to improve neuronal growth and regeneration.
abstract: Bacterial C3 exoenzymes are widely used tools to investigate cellular events influenced by small GTPases of the Rho subfamily. In this respect they have gained increasing interest in addressing questions dealing with the neuronal morphogenic program during development and after lesion of the mature nervous system. Since central neurons display only very limited capacity to re-grow their axons after injury, successful strategies to improve regeneration are much sought-after. For a long time exclusively considered to be Rho-inhibiting exoenzymes, there is now accumulating evidence that C3 proteins of clostridial sources exhibit their often beneficial effects on neurite outgrowth by other means than ADP-ribosylation. The current review will outline previous attempts to foster neuronal cell growth by the use of C3 transferases and highlight the more recent approaches to improve regenerative axon outgrowth using enzyme-deficient C3 preparations.
authors: Centrum für Anatomie, Institut für Integrative Neuroanatomie, AG Funktionelle Zellbiologie, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, Germany. markus.hoeltje@charite.de
authors: Markus
authors: M
authors: Höltje
authors: Ingo
authors: I
authors: Just
authors: Gudrun
authors: G
authors: Ahnert-Hilger
mesh_terms: D036002:ADP Ribose Transferases / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology; D001905:Botulinum Toxins / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000502:physiology; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D020741:rho GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D036002:ADP Ribose Transferases; C063007:exoenzyme C3, Clostridium botulinum; D001905:Botulinum Toxins; D020741:rho GTP-Binding Proteins