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Analysis of dynamical interactions of axon shafts and their biopysical modelling.
Šmít, Daniel ; Zápotocký, Martin (advisor) ; Reingruber, Jūrgen (referee) ; Maršálek, Petr (referee)
in English While axon fasciculation plays a key role in the development of neural networks, very lit- tle is known about its dynamics and the underlying biophysical mechanisms. In a model system composed of neurons grown ex vivo from explants of embryonic mouse olfactory epithelia, we observed that axons dynamically interact with each other through their shafts, leading to zippering and unzippering behaviour that regulates their fasciculation. Taking advantage of this new preparation suitable for studying such interactions, we carried out a detailed biophysical analysis of zippering, occurring either spontaneously or induced by micromanipulations and pharmacological treatments. We show that zippering arises from the competition of axon-axon adhesion and me- chanical tension in the axons. This is upheld on quantitative level by conforming change of network global structure in response to various pharmacological treatments, without active involvement of growth cones. The calibrated manipulations of interacting shafts provide qualitative support for the hypothesis, and also allow us to quantify the mechan- ical tension of axons in our system. Furthermore, we introduce a biophysical model of the zippering dynamics, which efficiently serves the purpose of estimating the magnitude of remaining involved...
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