The core apoptotic executioner proteins CED-3 and CED-4 promote initiation of neuronal regeneration in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: A critical accomplishment in the rapidly developing field of regenerative medicine will be the ability to foster repair of neurons severed by injury, disease, or microsurgery. In C. elegans, individual visualized axons can be laser-cut in vivo and neuronal responses to damage can be monitored to decipher genetic requirements for regeneration. With an initial interest in how local environments manage cellular debris, we performed femtosecond laser axotomies in genetic backgrounds lacking cell death gene activities. Unexpectedly, we found that the CED-3 caspase, well known as the core apoptotic cell death executioner, acts in early responses to neuronal injury to promote rapid regeneration of dissociated axons. In ced-3 mutants, initial regenerative outgrowth dynamics are impaired and axon r

SUBMITTER: Pinan-Lucarre B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3358320 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature