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Brief Communication

Nature Neuroscience 9, 996–998 (1 August 2006) | doi:10.1038/nn1736

UNC5A promotes neuronal apoptosis during spinal cord development independent of netrin-1

Megan E Williams , Xiaowei Lu , William L McKenna , Raesha Washington , Adam Boyette , Phyllis Strickland , Allison Dillon , Zaven Kaprielian , Marc Tessier-Lavigne & Lindsay Hinck

In addition to their role as chemorepellent netrin-1 receptors, UNC5 proteins may mediate cell death because they induce apoptosis in cultured cells. To test this in vivo, we generated Unc5a (formerly Unc5h1) knockout mice and found that this deletion decreased apoptosis and increased the number of neurons in the spinal cord.