© 2011 • 397 pp., illus. (87 color, 6 b/w), index
Trim size: 7” x 10”
Hardcover • $135 33.75 • ISBN  978-0-879698-97-3
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During the development of the brain growing nerves send out neuronal processes (axons and dendrites) that connect them to other nerve cells, sensory organs, and muscle tissue. Correct targeting of these is the basis for wiring of the entire nervous system and depends on attractive and repulsive molecular cues that guide the developing neurons to the appropriate destination.

Written and edited by experts in the field, this volume examines the mechanisms underlying neuronal guidance and branching and their roles in the development and function of the nervous system. The contributors examine the major guidance cues and their receptors, the intracellular signaling pathways they activate, and their function in the context of important phenomena such as laminar organization and dendrite spacing. Other chapters consider the roles of guidance cues in development of neuronal circuits dedicated to the processing of particular sensory stimuli, such as the visual and olfactory systems. In addition, they cover the roles played by guidance cues and their receptors in neuronal regeneration and human genetic disorders, revealing important clinical implications of work in this field.

The book also contains chapters discussing the function of guidance molecules in other processes, such as neuronal cell body migration, axon pruning, and regulation of neuronal cell death. In addition, it explores their roles outside the nervous system for example, in development of the vasculature. This volume is thus of general interest to cell and developmental biologists, as well as all neurobiologists interested in how the nervous system develops and functions.

Preface

Mechanisms and Molecules of Neuronal Wiring: A Primer

Alex L. Kolodkin and Marc Tessier-Lavigne

 

SECTION I: AXON GUIDANCE AND BRANCHING STRATEGIES

Cellular Strategies of Axonal Pathfinding

Jonathan Raper and Carol Mason

Navigating Intermediate Targets: The Nervous System Midline

Barry J. Dickson and Yimin Zou

Motor Axon Pathfinding

Dario Bonanomi and Samuel L. Pfaff

Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Lamina-specific Axon Targeting

Andrew D. Huberman, Thomas R. Clandinin, and Herwig Baier

Self-avoidance and Tiling: Mechanisms of Dendrite and Axon Spacing

Wesley B. Grueber and Alvaro Sagasti

Visual Map Development: Bidirectional Signaling, Bifunctional Guidance Molecules, and Competition

David A. Feldheim and Dennis D.M. O’Leary

Topographic Mapping—The Olfactory System

Takeshi Imai, Hitoshi Sakano, and Leslie B. Vosshall

Wiring the Brain: The Biology of Neuronal Guidance

Alain Chédotal and Linda J. Richards

Human Genetic Disorders of Axon Guidance

Elizabeth C. Engle

 

SECTION II: CELL BIOLOGY OF AXON GROWTH, GUIDANCE, AND BRANCHING

Initiating and Growing an Axon

Franck Polleux and William Snider

The Growth Cone Cytoskeleton in Axon Outgrowth and Guidance

Erik W. Dent, Stephanie L. Gupton, and Frank B. Gertler

Rho and Ras GTPases in Axon Growth, Guidance, and Branching

Alan Hall and Giovanna Lalli

Signaling from Axon Guidance Receptors

Greg J. Bashaw and Rüdiger Klein

Trafficking Guidance Receptors

Bettina Winckler and Ira Mellman

 

SECTION III: BEYOND AXONS—INVOLVEMENT OF GUIDANCE STRATEGIES AND MOLECULES IN RELATED PROCESSES

Guiding Neuronal Cell Migrations

Oscar Marín, Manuel Valiente, Xuecai Ge, and Li-Huei Tsai

Guidance Molecules in Synapse Formation and Plasticity

Kang Shen and Christopher W. Cowan

Guidance Molecules in Axon Pruning and Cell Death

Pierre Vanderhaeghen and Hwai-Jong Cheng

Guidance Molecules in Axon Regeneration

Roman J. Giger, Edmund R. Hollis II, and Mark H. Tuszynski

Axon Guidance Molecules in Vascular Patterning

Ralf H. Adams and Anne Eichmann

 

Index