Guidepost cells
Encyclopedia
Guidepost cells are cells which assist in the subcellular organization of both neuron axon growth and migration. These cells are typically other, sometimes immature, neurons and glial cells .
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Identification
Many types of cells serve as guidepost cells. Guidepost cells are identified by their singular importance in neural guidance of other cells. To qualify as a guidepost cell, neurons hypothesized to be influenced by the guidance the cell are examined during development with the guidance cell in question present and missing (either by destroying the cell or through gene knockoutGene knockout
A gene knockout is a genetic technique in which one of an organism's genes is made inoperative . Also known as knockout organisms or simply knockouts, they are used in learning about a gene that has been sequenced, but which has an unknown or incompletely known function...
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See also
- Nerve fiberNerve fiberA nerve fiber is a threadlike extension of a nerve cell and consists of an axon and myelin sheath in the nervous system. There are nerve fibers in the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. A nerve fiber may be myelinated and/or unmyelinated. In the central nervous system , myelin...
- NerveNerveA peripheral nerve, or simply nerve, is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of peripheral axons . A nerve provides a common pathway for the electrochemical nerve impulses that are transmitted along each of the axons. Nerves are found only in the peripheral nervous system...
- NeuronNeuronA neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information by electrical and chemical signaling. Chemical signaling occurs via synapses, specialized connections with other cells. Neurons connect to each other to form networks. Neurons are the core components of the nervous...
- DendriteDendriteDendrites are the branched projections of a neuron that act to conduct the electrochemical stimulation received from other neural cells to the cell body, or soma, of the neuron from which the dendrites project...
- SynapseSynapseIn the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another cell...
- Axon guidanceAxon guidanceAxon guidance is a subfield of neural development concerning the process by which neurons send out axons to reach the correct targets...
- Pioneer axonPioneer axonPioneer axon is an axon that lays down initial growing path for the axons of other neurons to follow.-References:; covered in...
- ElectrophysiologyElectrophysiologyElectrophysiology is the study of the electrical properties of biological cells and tissues. It involves measurements of voltage change or electric current on a wide variety of scales from single ion channel proteins to whole organs like the heart...
- Neural cell adhesion moleculeNeural Cell Adhesion MoleculeNeural Cell Adhesion Molecule is a homophilic binding glycoprotein expressed on the surface of neurons, glia, skeletal muscle and natural killer cells...