| Affiliation: | (1) Division of Neurophysiology, School of Medicine, Osaka University Graduate, 2-2 Yamadaoka, 565-0871 Suita, Osaka, Japan;(2) Solution Oriented Research for Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 442-0012 Kawaguchi, Japan |
| Abstract: | Background Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is sorted into a regulated secretory pathway of neurons, is supposed to act retrogradely through dendrites on presynaptic neurons or anterogradely through axons on postsynaptic neurons. Depending on which is the case, the pattern and direction of trafficking of BDNF in dendrites and axons are expected to be different. To address this issue, we analyzed movements of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged BDNF in axons and dendrites of living cortical neurons by time-lapse imaging. In part of the experiments, the expression of BDNF tagged with cyan fluorescent protein (CFP) was compared with that of nerve growth factor (NGF) tagged with yellow fluorescent protein (YFP), to see whether fluorescent protein-tagged BDNF is expressed in a manner specific to this neurotrophin. |
