Coordinate regulation of mature dopaminergic axon morphology by macroautophagy and the PTEN signaling pathway.

ABSTRACT: Macroautophagy is a conserved mechanism for the bulk degradation of proteins and organelles. Pathological studies have implicated defective macroautophagy in neurodegeneration, but physiological functions of macroautophagy in adult neurons remain unclear. Here we show that Atg7, an essential macroautophagy component, regulates dopaminergic axon terminal morphology. Mature Atg7-deficient midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons harbored selectively enlarged axonal terminals. This contrasted with the phenotype of DA neurons deficient in Pten - a key negative regulator of the mTOR kinase signaling pathway and neuron size - that displayed enlarged soma but unaltered axon terminals. Surprisingly, concomitant deficiency of both Atg7 and Pten led to a dramatic enhancement of axon terminal enlargement relat

SUBMITTER: Inoue K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3789823 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature