Axonal transport

Axonal transport, also called axoplasmic transport or axoplasmic flow, is a cellular process responsible for movement of mitochondria, lipids, synaptic vesicles, proteins, and other organelles to and from a neuron's cell body, through the cytoplasm of its axon called the axoplasm.[1] Since some axons are on the order of meters long, neurons cannot rely on diffusion to carry products of the nucleus and organelles to the ends of their axons. Axonal transport is also responsible for moving molecules destined for degradation from the axon back to the cell body, where they are broken down by lysosomes.[2]

Dynein, a motor protein responsible for retrograde axonal transport, carries vesicles and other cellular products toward the cell bodies of neurons. Its light chains bind the cargo, and its globular head regions bind the microtubule, "inching" along it.

Movement toward the cell body is called retrograde transport and movement toward the synapse is called anterograde transport.[3][4]

  1. ^ Sabry J, O'Connor TP, Kirschner MW (June 1995). "Axonal transport of tubulin in Ti1 pioneer neurons in situ". Neuron. 14 (6): 1247–56. doi:10.1016/0896-6273(95)90271-6. PMID 7541635.
  2. ^ Oztas E (2003). "Neuronal Tracing" (PDF). Neuroanatomy. 2: 2–5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2005-10-25.
  3. ^ Karp G, van der Geer P (2005). Cell and molecular biology: concepts and experiments (4th ed.). John Wiley. p. 344. ISBN 978-0-471-46580-5.
  4. ^ Bear MF, Connors BW, Paradso MA (2007). Neuroscience : exploring the brain (3rd ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-7817-6003-4.