Microtubule-rich Neurons of Animals

Topic
This article lists and discusses items about microtubule-rich neurons of animals.

Particularly Relevant Items
Baas, P.W., Myers, K.A., Qiang, L., and Nadar, V.C., "Microtubules: Organization and Function in Neurons", in Squire, L.R., Ed.-in-Chief, Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, Elsevier, 2008, pp. 871-878: Alberts, B., Johnson, A., Lewis, J., Raff, M., Roberts, K., and Walter, P., Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition, New York: Garland Science, 2008:
 * Page 871: Microtubules are particularly important for architecture of axons and dendrites and for specific and directional transport of proteins and organelles within these processes. Microtubules are also, of course, the filaments comprising the mitotic spindle during cell division, but are extremely abundant in neurons even though terminally postmitotic, i.e. no longer for spindles. Microtubules are critically important for migration of cell body and cue-dependent pathfinding of growth cone at axon tip.
 * Page 872: In axons, microtubule plus ends are away from the cell body, but in dendrites, roughly equal numbers of microtubules have plus ends directed away from and toward the cell body. Another, compositional difference is that microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) of different types decorate microtubules, e.g. tau is present in axons and MAP2 is present in dendrites.
 * Page 875: Dendritic transport is probably more complex than axonal transport because of opposite polarities of dendritic microtubules.
 * Page 878 explains that, in addition to being structural, microtubules are highly dynamic and can interact with regulatory proteins. They participate in, e.g., transduction of forces in neuronal migration and growth cone guidance.
 * Pages 1047-1050 describe roles of cytoskeleton in neurons, mentioning that axons and dendrites are filled with bundles of microtubules critical both to structure and function.