ArticleThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2008
A molecular clutch between the actin flow and N-cadherin adhesions drives growth cone migration.
Article in The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 77 papers.
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Who cites it
77 citing papers in PubMed, 148 citations in OpenAlex.
- Regulation and function of specialized membrane protrusions in intercellular communication.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2026Review
- Electrical stimulation promotes structural plasticity in cortical spheroids by modulating N-cadherin-dependent collective migration and mechanotransduction.Biomedical engineering letters · 2026Article
- Neurons maintain sequential order during radial migration by DSCAM-facilitated antagonism of N-Cadherin.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- β-catenin-α-catenin and actomyosin signaling differentially regulate growth cone contours and axon undulation and branching of retinal ganglion cellsFrontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2025Article
- A modified motor-clutch model reveals that neuronal growth cones respond faster to soft substrates.Molecular biology of the cell · 2024Article
- Adhesion-clutch between DCC and netrin-1 mediates netrin-1-induced axonal haptotaxis.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2024Article
- Cellular mechanotransduction in health and diseases: from molecular mechanism to therapeutic targets.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2023Review
- Formation of cellular close-ended tunneling nanotubes through mechanical deformation.Science advances · 2022Article
- Biomechanical microenvironment in peripheral nerve regeneration: from pathophysiological understanding to tissue engineering development.Theranostics · 2022Review
- Multiscale Mechanobiology in Brain Physiology and Diseases.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Review
- Neuromechanobiology: An Expanding Field Driven by the Force of Greater Focus.Advanced healthcare materials · 2021Review
- Advancing models of neural development with biomaterials.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2021Review
- With the Permission of Microtubules: An Updated Overview on Microtubule Function During Axon Pathfinding.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2021Review
- Manipulation of Axonal Outgrowth via Exogenous Low Forces.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
- Cadherins regulate nuclear topography and function of developing ocular motor circuitry.eLife · 2020Article
- Review
- Vangl2 acts at the interface between actin and N-cadherin to modulate mammalian neuronal outgrowth.eLife · 2020Article
- Mechanical Regulation of Nuclear Translocation in Migratory Neurons.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2020Review
- Forces to Drive Neuronal Migration Steps.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2020Review
- Probing force in living cells with optical tweezers: from single-molecule mechanics to cell mechanotransduction.Biophysical reviews · 2019Review
17 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The adhesion molecule N-cadherin plays important roles in the development of the nervous system, in particular by stimulating axon outgrowth, but the molecular mechanisms underlying this effect are mostly unknown. One possibility, the so-called "molecular clutch" model, could involve a direct mechanical linkage between N-cadherin adhesion at the membrane and intracellular actin-based motility within neuronal growth cones. Using live imaging of primary rat hippocampal neurons plated on N-cadherin-coated substrates and optical trapping of N-cadherin-coated microspheres, we demonstrate here a strong correlation between growth cone velocity and the mechanical coupling between ligand-bound N-cadherin receptors and the retrograde actin flow. This relationship holds by varying ligand density and expressing mutated N-cadherin receptors or small interfering RNAs to perturb binding to catenins. By restraining microsphere motion using optical tweezers or a microneedle, we further show slippage of cadherin-cytoskeleton bonds at low forces, and, at higher forces, local actin accumulation, which strengthens nascent N-cadherin contacts. Together, these data support a direct transmission of actin-based traction forces to N-cadherin adhesions, through catenin partners, driving growth cone advance and neurite extension.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.