Axon guidance and gradient detection by growth cones

Goodhill, G. J., and Urbach, J. S. (2003). In: Van Ooyen, A., ed. Modeling Neural Development. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 95-109.

Abstract

Growing axons can find appropriate targets in the developing nervous system with remarkable precision. They do this using a variety of molecular cues, including concentration gradients. Axon guidance is a very active area of experimental research, and several of the molecules involved have recently been identified. This chapter reviews these recent data and some of the theoretical models proposed to account for these data. It particularly focuses on constraints on guidance by a target-derived diffusible factor, and on signal-to-noise constraints on gradient detection by growth cones.