Intraneuronal resource allocation: a key for functional circuit restoration in the central nervous system

Brain trauma and neurodegenerative disorders represent a critical socioeconomic challenge in our aging society, as functional regeneration of the damaged central nervous system (CNS) remains almost impossible. To tackle this challenge, our teams combine complementary animal models: zebrafish, that display robust regeneration of the CNS after injury, and mice, which like humans do not. We recently revealed an antagonistic axon-dendrite interplay in adult zebrafish neurons, wherein the retraction of dendrites is needed for effective axonal repair, and also showed that the distribution and morphology of mitochondria change in the different neuronal compartments during injury-induced axonal regeneration. Based on these observations, we hypothesize that the inter-dependency of dendritic and axonal regrowth is resource limited. To test our hypothesis, we will investigate how the allocation of energy production shifts in single neurons among distinct compartments during injury-induced regrowth in both zebrafish and mice. Using a combination of bioinformatic, molecular and imaging approaches, we aim to uncover a set of molecular targets and mechanistic principles that support functional circuit repair in the mammalian CNS.

Keywords:neuroregeneration, zebrafish, mice, cellular energy metabolism, intracellular communication

Disciplines:Regenerative medicine not elsewhere classified, Animal cell and molecular biology, Animal morphology, anatomy and physiology