| First Author | Gallent EA | Year | 2018 |
| Journal | Exp Neurol | Volume | 303 |
| Pages | 12-28 | PubMed ID | 29337147 |
| Mgi Jnum | J:261151 | Mgi Id | MGI:6152911 |
| Doi | 10.1016/j.expneurol.2018.01.005 | Citation | Gallent EA, et al. (2018) Neuronal PTEN deletion in adult cortical neurons triggers progressive growth of cell bodies, dendrites, and axons. Exp Neurol 303:12-28 |
| abstractText | Deletion of the phosphatase and tensin (PTEN) gene in neonatal mice leads to enlargement of the cell bodies of cortical motoneurons (CMNs) in adulthood (Gutilla et al., 2016). Here, we assessed whether PTEN deletion in adult mice would trigger growth of mature neurons. PTEN was deleted by injecting AAV-Cre into the sensorimotor cortex of adult transgenic mice with a lox-P flanked exon 5 of the PTEN gene and Cre-dependent reporter gene tdTomato. PTEN-deleted CMN''s identified by tdT expression and retrograde labeling with fluorogold (FG) were significantly enlarged four months following PTEN deletion, and continued to increase in size through the latest time intervals examined (12-15months post-deletion). Sholl analyses of tdT-positive pyramidal neurons revealed increases in dendritic branches at 6months following adult PTEN deletion, and greater increases at 12months. 12months after adult PTEN deletion, axons in the medullary pyramids were significantly larger and G-ratios were higher. Mice with PTEN deletion exhibited no overt neurological symptoms and no seizures. Assessment of motor function on the rotarod and cylinder test revealed slight impairment of coordination with unilateral deletion; however, mice with bilateral PTEN deletion in the motor cortex performed better than controls on the rotarod at 8 and 10months post-deletion. Our findings demonstrate that robust neuronal growth can be induced in fully mature cortical neurons long after the developmental period has ended and that this continuous growth occurs without obvious functional impairments. |
