spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online 27 March 2007
doi: 10.1242/jcs.001461

Journal of Cell Science 120, 1447-1456 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
jcs.001461v1
120/8/1447    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ohkawa, N.
Right arrow Articles by Inokuchi, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ohkawa, N.
Right arrow Articles by Inokuchi, K.

Research Article

The microtubule destabilizer stathmin mediates the development of dendritic arbors in neuronal cells

Noriaki Ohkawa1, Kazuko Fujitani1, Eri Tokunaga1, Shigeki Furuya2 and Kaoru Inokuchi1,3,4,*

1 Mitsubishi Kagaku Institute of Life Sciences (MITILS), 11 Minamiooya, Machida, Tokyo 194-8511, Japan
2 Laboratory of Metabolic Regulation Research, Kyushu University Bio-Architecture Center, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashiku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan
3 Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
4 CREST, JST, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi 332-0012, Japan

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: kaoru{at}mitils.jp)

Accepted 26 February 2007

The regulation of microtubule dynamics is important for the appropriate arborization of neuronal dendrites during development, which in turn is critical for the formation of functional neural networks. Here we show that stathmin, a microtubule destabilizing factor, is downregulated at both the expression and activity levels during cerebellar development, and this down-regulation contributes to dendritic arborization. Stathmin overexpression drastically limited the dendritic growth of cultured Purkinje cells. The stathmin activity was suppressed by neural activity and CaMKII-dependent phosphorylation at Ser16, which led to dendritic arborization. Stathmin phosphorylation at Ser16 was mediated by the activation of voltage-gated calcium channels and metabotropic glutamate receptor 1. Although overexpression of SCG10, a member of the stathmin family, also limited the dendritic arborization, SCG10 did not mediate the CaMKII regulation of dendritic development. These results suggest that calcium elevation activates CaMKII, which in turn phosphorylates stathmin at Ser16 to stabilize dendritic microtubules. siRNA knockdown of endogenous stathmin significantly reduced dendritic growth in Purkinje cells. Thus, these data suggest that proper regulation of stathmin activity is a key factor for controlling the dendritic microtubule dynamics that are important for neuronal development.

Key words: Calcium signal, Dendritic arborization, Development, Microtubule dynamics, Phosphorylation, Stathmin




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
F. E. Poulain, S. Chauvin, R. Wehrle, M. Desclaux, J. Mallet, G. Vodjdani, I. Dusart, and A. Sobel
SCLIP Is Crucial for the Formation and Development of the Purkinje Cell Dendritic Arbor
J. Neurosci., July 16, 2008; 28(29): 7387 - 7398.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2007