IUBio

Direction of travel along axon?

Bill Browning bbrownin at nospambellatlantic.net
Sat Oct 21 13:00:14 EST 2000


What mechanism carries substances along the axon, inside it?  Surely, simple
Fick's Law diffusion would take years to move along that long slender
pathway.
Bill B.
------------------------------------------
Richard Norman <rsnorman at mediaone.net> wrote in message
news:9JhI5.2032$EA6.137446 at typhoon.mw.mediaone.net...
> "mike" <mike-anderson at nwu.edu> wrote in message
> news:mike-anderson-2110000251100001 at dhcp083174.res-hall.nwu.edu...
> > i am confused as to the direction that different molecules travel along
> > the axon, i know that organelles can be carried antero, or retrograde,
but
> > what about things such as nerve growth factor?  Just a little confused.
> > Forgive me if this is the wronog place to ask.
> > --
> > mike
> > In my dreams i'm dying all the time
> > http://www.mp3.com/mikeanderson
>
> This is a good place to ask.  I believe it is possible for pretty much
> anything
> inside the neuron to be carried in any which direction.  What is more to
the
> point is where is the stuff likely to come from?
>
> If a cell is manufacturing a protein, then that must be done in the rough
> ER in the soma.  Therefore it will be transported anterograde down the
> axon.  On the other hand, if a protein is made somewhere else outside
> the cell and acts as a signaling agent, then it is possible for it to be
> picked up by endocytosis and transported.  So something that is picked
> up at the axon terminal (where the vesicle recycling allows for a lot of
> that
> kind of thing) might well be transported retrograde back to the cell body
> Something picked up in the soma or dendrite area might be transported
> anterograde down the axon.
>
> I don't know specifically where nerve growth factor fits in the story.
>
> And I would suggest you talk to someone about your dreams!
>
>
>







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