title: Neurodevelopment. Dendrite morphogenesis depends on relative levels of NT-3/TrkC signaling.
abstract: Neurotrophins regulate diverse aspects of neuronal development and plasticity, but their precise in vivo functions during neural circuit assembly in the central brain remain unclear. We show that the neurotrophin receptor tropomyosin-related kinase C (TrkC) is required for dendritic growth and branching of mouse cerebellar Purkinje cells. Sparse TrkC knockout reduced dendrite complexity, but global Purkinje cell knockout had no effect. Removal of the TrkC ligand neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) from cerebellar granule cells, which provide major afferent input to developing Purkinje cell dendrites, rescued the dendrite defects caused by sparse TrkC disruption in Purkinje cells. Our data demonstrate that NT-3 from presynaptic neurons (granule cells) is required for TrkC-dependent competitive dendrite morphogenesis in postsynaptic neurons (Purkinje cells)--a previously unknown mechanism of neural circuit development.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Neurosciences Program, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Joo
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hippenmeyer
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Neurosciences Program, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. lluo@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Liqun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development*; D055495:Neurogenesis; D020933:Neurotrophin 3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D020812:Receptor, trkC / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D020933:Neurotrophin 3; D020812:Receptor, trkC