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The functional properties of the
vertebrate nervous system depend upon the neuronal connections formed during
development. Two critical developmental events that determine neuronal
connectivity include the projection of axons to selective targets and the
elaboration of the neuron’s primary receptive surface, the dendritic
arbor. The major goal of this laboratory is to identify and characterize
factors that modulate axonal and dendritic growth during normal development
and assess the role of such factors as targets for environmental contaminants
with neurotoxic potential. The specific questions we are currently
pursuing in the lab are:
What role do trophic factors and cytokines play in modulating dendritic
growth?
How do neurotoxic environmental contaminants alter developmental processes
that underlie neuronal connectivity?
To address these questions we employ a variety of techniques ranging from
microarray analyses to primary neuronal cell culture to transgenic animals.
Background image: Cultured sympathetic neurons extend dendrites when exposed to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and this response is inhibited in the presence of function blocking BMP-7 antibodies. These data indicate that CSF contains biologically active bone morphogenetic protein-7. The dendritic arbor is immunolabeled with antibodies
specific for MAP-2, a dendrite-specific cytoskeletal protein. This photomicrograph
was the cover illustration for the volume of Experimental Neurology in which
this work was presented (Dattatreyamurty et al., 2001, Exp Neurol 172:273-281). Click here to download a pdf version of this paper.
The Lein
lab Web pages were last updated on October 1, 2004.
Please send comments, questions, and reports of problems with the Lein Lab Web pages to Harlene Finn at finnh@ohsu.edu.
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