title: Ligand-induced dynamics of neurotrophin receptors investigated by single-molecule imaging approaches.
abstract: Neurotrophins are secreted proteins that regulate neuronal development and survival, as well as maintenance and plasticity of the adult nervous system. The biological activity of neurotrophins stems from their binding to two membrane receptor types, the tropomyosin receptor kinase and the p75 neurotrophin receptors (NRs). The intracellular signalling cascades thereby activated have been extensively investigated. Nevertheless, a comprehensive description of the ligand-induced nanoscale details of NRs dynamics and interactions spanning from the initial lateral movements triggered at the plasma membrane to the internalization and transport processes is still missing. Recent advances in high spatio-temporal resolution imaging techniques have yielded new insight on the dynamics of NRs upon ligand binding. Here we discuss requirements, potential and practical implementation of these novel approaches for the study of neurotrophin trafficking and signalling, in the framework of current knowledge available also for other ligand-receptor systems. We shall especially highlight the correlation between the receptor dynamics activated by different neurotrophins and the respective signalling outcome, as recently revealed by single-molecule tracking of NRs in living neuronal cells.
authors.affiliation: National Enterprise for nanoScience and nanoTechnology (NEST) Laboratory, Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR, Piazza San Silvestro 12, Pisa I-56127, Italy. teresa.denadai@sns.it.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marchetti
authors.affiliation: National Enterprise for nanoScience and nanoTechnology (NEST) Laboratory, Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR, Piazza San Silvestro 12, Pisa I-56127, Italy. s.luin@sns.it.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luin
authors.affiliation: National Enterprise for nanoScience and nanoTechnology (NEST) Laboratory, Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR, Piazza San Silvestro 12, Pisa I-56127, Italy. fulvio.bonsignore@sns.it.
authors.forename: Fulvio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bonsignore
authors.affiliation: Biology Laboratory (BioSNS), Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto di Neuroscienze-CNR, via Moruzzi 1, Pisa I-56100, Italy. teresa.denadai@sns.it.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: de Nadai
authors.affiliation: National Enterprise for nanoScience and nanoTechnology (NEST) Laboratory, Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR, Piazza San Silvestro 12, Pisa I-56127, Italy. fulvio.bonsignore@sns.it.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Beltram
authors.affiliation: Biology Laboratory (BioSNS), Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto di Neuroscienze-CNR, via Moruzzi 1, Pisa I-56100, Italy. antonino.cattaneo@sns.it.
authors.forename: Antonino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cattaneo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D008954:Models, Biological; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D017475:Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D017475:Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor