The aim of the work described in this thesis is to investigate the nature and mechanisms of action of repellent cues for growing axons. In particular I try to resolve the controversy in the literature regarding the need for protein synthesis in the growth cone in response to external guidance cues. My results resolve the conflicting data in the literature on Semaphorin-3A signalling, where differing labs had shown that inhibiting protein synthesis either blocks or has no effect upon repulsion. They demonstrate the presence of at least two independent pathways, protein synthesis-dependent mTOR activation and -independent GSK3? activation. The higher sensitivity of the synthesis-dependent pathway, and its redundancy at higher concentrations where synthesis-independent mechanisms can evoke a full collapse response alone, resolve the apparent conflict. My experiments also demonstrated that Nogo-?20, a domain of Nogo-A, requires local protein synthesis to cause collapse. Unlike Semaphorin-3A, the dependence of collapse upon protein synthesis is concentration-independent and does not involve guanylyl cyclase, but it does share a dependence upon mTOR activity and the synthesis of RhoA, sufficient to cause collapse downstream of Semaphorin-3A. The other axon-repelling domain of Nogo-A, Nogo-66, is partially dependent upon the proteasome instead. It does not share a common pathway with Nogo-?20, except that both are RhoA-dependent. I further attempted to identify the nature of a repulsive activity found in grey matter, ruling out a previously suggested candidate identity. Finally, I examined the phenomenon of nitric oxide-induced growth cone collapse. My experiments revealed that S-nitrosylated glutathione causes growth cone collapse through the activity of protein disulphide isomerase. This mechanism shows only a partial dependence upon soluble guanylyl cyclase, but I argue that it has total dependence upon an S-nitrosylated donor. Coupled with its apparent relation to S-palmitoylation, the reciprocal of S-nitrosylation, I propose that nitric oxide causes collapse by crossing the cell membrane to inhibit S-palmitoylation-determined localisation of proteins. These results reveal some of the many pathways involved in growth cone collapse, whose further characterisation may provide new targets for the treatment of injuries of the central nervous system.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:607707 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Manns, Richard Peter Charles |
| Publisher | University of Cambridge |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/245741 |
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