Chapter 6 Changes in Intermediate Filament Composition during Neurogenesis

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the studies and related investigations in laboratories pertaining to the intermediate filament (IF) isoforms of the nervous system, particularly those of neurons and their precursors. Results to date relating the expression of different IF isoforms to known events in the generation and differentiation of different cell types support the contention that qualitative differences in these structures may constitute one basis for phenotypic cytoskeletal properties. Although less detailed developmental information is available, it is likely that isoform diversity in tubulin will also turn out to have important functional consequences. In addition, increasing numbers of potential regulatory proteins associated with one or more of the cytoskeletal systems are being identified, and, in a few cases, it has been possible to relate the differential expression of some of these to specific aspects of cytoskeletal organization. Because of the unparalleled diversity of IF isoforms and their cell-type restriction in the mature nervous system as compared with other cell types, it is of particular interest to examine the expression of the neurofilament and other IF subunits during the development of the nervous system, particularly at the time of the generation of postmitotic neuroblasts and initiation of neurite outgrowth. The chapter investigates this in some detail during the embryonic development of the chicken, with interesting results.