Neuronal growth as diffusion in an effective potential.
Current understanding of neuronal growth is mostly qualitative, as the staggering number of physical and chemical guidance cues involved prohibit a fully quantitative description of axonal dynamics. We report on a general approach that describes axonal growth in vitro, on poly-D-lysine-coated glass substrates, as diffusion in an effective external potential, representing the collective contribution of all causal influences on the growth cone. We use this approach to obtain effective growth rules that reveal an emergent regulatory mechanism for axonal pathfinding on these substrates.
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Center for Nanoscopic Physics, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA.
Daniel J
DJ
Rizzo
James D
JD
White
Elise
E
Spedden
Matthew R
MR
Wiens
David L
DL
Kaplan
Timothy J
TJ
Atherton
Cristian
C
Staii
D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000378:metabolism*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology; D007700:Kinetics; D008959:Models, Neurological; D051381:Rats