The neuron-specific ELAV/Hu family member, HuD, interacts with and stabilizes GAP-43 mRNA in developing neurons, and leads to increased levels of GAP-43 protein. As GAP-43 protein is enriched in growth cones, it is of interest to determine if HuD and GAP-43 mRNA are associated in developing growth cones. HuD granules in growth cones are found in the central domain that is rich in microtubules a...

The 43-kD growth-associated protein (GAP-43) is a major protein kinase C (PKC) substrate of growing axons, and of developing nerve terminals and glial cells. It is a highly hydrophilic protein associated with the cortical cytoskeleton and membranes. In neurons it is rapidly transported from the cell body to growth cones and nerve terminals, where it accumulates. To define the role of GAP-43 in ...

The growth-associated protein GAP-43 is a major protein kinase C substrate of growth cones and developing nerve terminals. In the growth cone, it accumulates near the plasma membrane, where it associates with the cortical cytoskeleton and membranes. The role of GAP-43 in neurite outgrowth is not yet clear, but recent findings suggest that it may be a crucial competence factor in this process. T...

The neuronal growth-associated protein GAP-43 is expressed maximally during development and regeneration, and is enriched at the cytosolic surface of the growth cone membrane. GAP-43 can activate the GTP-binding protein G(o) which is also a major component of the growth cone membrane. These findings have led to the hypothesis that GAP-43 might modulate neurite outgrowth by altering G-protein ac...

Sympathetic neurons regenerating in culture were studied in order to gain further insight into the intracellular distribution and phosphorylation of GAP-43, a protein that has been suggested to have a role in axonal outgrowth and neuronal plasticity (Willard et al., 1987). Superior cervical ganglion neurons from embryonic rats were highly reactive with a polyclonal antibody against the growth-a...

Growth cones are powerful amplifiers for signals from the microenvironment. Their collapse can be triggered by cell surface components of myelin and brain membranes, as well as by soluble ligands, including neurotransmitters. GAP-43 is a protein concentrated on the inner surface of the growth cone membrane. Assayed in isolation, it interacts with the heterotrimeric protein, G(o), and in oocytes...

The neuronal growth cone plays a crucial role in forming the complex brain architecture achieved during development, and similar nerve terminal mechanisms may operate to modify synaptic structure during adulthood. The growth cone leads the elongating axon towards appropriate synaptic targets by altering motility in response to a variety of extracellular signals. Independently of extrinsic clues...

Hippocampal neurons growing in culture initially extend several, short minor processes that have the potential to become either axons or dendrites. The first expression of polarity occurs when one of these minor processes begins to elongate rapidly, becoming the axon. Before axonal outgrowth, the growth-associated protein GAP-43 is distributed equally among the growth cones of the minor process...

Growth cones, the motile apparatus at the ends of elongating axons, are sites of extensive and dynamic membrane-cytoskeletal interaction and insertion of new membrane into the growing axon. One of the most abundant proteins in growth cone membranes is a protein designated GAP-43, whose synthesis increases dramatically in most neurons during periods of axon development or regeneration. We have b...

GAP-43 is a 25 kDa neuronal intrinsically disordered protein, highly abundant in the neuronal growth cone during development and regeneration. The exact molecular function(s) of GAP-43 remains unclear but it appears to be involved in growth cone guidance and actin cytoskeleton organization. Therefore, GAP-43 seems to play an important role in neurotransmitter vesicle fusion and recycling, long-...