Developmental trajectories predict dendritic remodeling after injury.

ABSTRACT: Neurons in the adult central nervous system exhibit limited regenerative capacity, yet certain retinal ganglion cell subtypes exhibit greater resilience. We tested whether the timing of dendritic maturation shapes subtype-specific responses to injury. Reconstruction of over 1,000 retinal ganglion cells shows that ON-sustained (sONα) and ON-transient (tONα) cells follow distinct developmental trajectories: tONα cells reach peak dendritic size by postnatal day 10, while sONα cells mature by day 14. Post-injury, both subtypes undergo dendritic shrinkage; however, sONα cells remodel more rapidly and stabilize earlier. Computational modeling indicated that injury-induced morphologies resemble earlier developmental stages. Deletion of PTEN and SOCS3, which promotes axon regeneration, led to incr

SUBMITTER: Santos JRF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12441708 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature