Early dendritic and axonal morphogenesis

Hentschel, H. G. E., and Fine, A. (2003). In: Van Ooyen, A., ed. Modeling Neural Development. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 49-74.

Abstract

In this chapter we review the neurobiology of early dendritic and axonal morphogenesis and the underlying physical mechanisms that may control the growth and form of axons and dendrites. An increasing body of experimental and modelling work suggests that several physicochemical instabilities may underlie the generation of dendritic and axonal forms. Lamellipodia formation and the early stages of dendritic arborization may be the consequence of an instability involving the control of growth by the local calcium concentration, while axonal differentiation may be due to an instability involving actin depolymerization and microtubule formation in the developing neuron. In this chapter we describe models of neurite formation and axonal differentiation incorporating these instabilities and discuss their implications for neuronal development.