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Neurobiology

Channels for pathfinding

Nature volume 434, pages 835–837 (2005)Cite this article

TRP channels are best known for their role in sensory systems: detecting heat and cold, taste, pain and so on. Unexpectedly, they have also been shown to help the growing axons of nerve cells find their way.

The adult nervous system is characterized by a complex network of neurons and their target cells, which are wired up during development when neurons extend processes called axons. The paths taken by axons depend on the movement of their terminal ‘growth cones’ — structures that control the direction and rate of axon extension in response to molecular cues in the environment. For example, some cues, known as chemotropic factors, can orient the growth cones towards or away from the source of the cue. Growth cones sense external cues through receptors on their surface, and then generate intracellular signals that determine the direction in which the axon grows. One such signal is ionic calcium (Ca2+), through which several environmental guidance cues influence the orientation of growth cones. But exactly how these cues promote the appropriate changes in Ca2+ levels is poorly defined. On pages 898 and 894 of this issue, Wang and Poo1 and Li et al.2 describe an important and unexpected role for a channel protein.

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Figure 1: Calcium signals and axon guidance.

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  1. the Department of Anatomy, University of Wisconsin Medical School, 1300 University Avenue, Madison, 53706, Wisconsin, USA

    Timothy Gomez

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  1. Timothy Gomez
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Gomez, T. Channels for pathfinding. Nature 434, 835–837 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/434835a

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