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Role of microtubules in the cytoplasmic compartmentation of neurons
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Role of microtubules in the cytoplasmic compartmentation of neurons

Peter W Baas, Gary I Sinclair and Steven R Heidemann
Brain research, v 420(1), pp 73-81
1987
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-8993(87)90241-1
PMID: 3676755
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel

Abstract

Axon Neuron Neurite Ribosome Microtubule Compartmentation
We have examined the role of microtubules (MTs) in the development and maintenance of the cytoplasmic compartmentation of ribosomes in cultured embryonic chick sensory neurons. Control neurons show a sharp cytoplasmic demarcation between the ribosome-rich/MT-deficient ‘translational’ cytoplasm of the perikaryon and the ribosome-deficient/MT-rich ‘expressional’ cytoplasm of the axon-like neurites. Neurites treated with 1.0 μg/ml nocodazole for 15–20 min show in addition to the depolymerization of MTs a clear loss of the cytoplasmic demarcation between the soma and neurite. We found a decreasing density of ribosomes with increasing distance from the soma in the nocodazole treated neurites. Ribosomes, as confirmed by their diameter and sensitivity to ribonuclease treatment, populated the first 100 μm of neurites at roughly the same density as found in the soma (150–300 ribosomes per μm 2 in 50 nm longitudinal thin sections). The second 100 μm contained a lower density of ribosomes than the first, 20–60 per μm 2, but still higher than controls. Distances past 200 μm were devoid of unambiguous ribosomes. Neurites amputated between 50 and 150 μm from the soma then treated with nocodazole contained a dense population of ribosomes in the proximal segment still attached to the soma, but few or none in the distal segment. We interpret these findings as evidence that ribosomes are able to move from the soma down the neurite after MT disassembly. We found these results to be specific to MT depolymerization in that they were reproducible with 10 μg/ml vinblastine, 100 μg/ml griseofulvin, or cold treatment, but not by actin disruption with 2 μg/ml cytochalasin D or by general insult caused by amputation. Our results suggest that MTs in the neurite provide an impediment to the movement of ribosomes from the soma into the neurite. We propose that the development of a dense cytoskeletal array in axons plays a critical role in the development and maintenance of cytoplasmic compartmentation during early neuronal differentiation.

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