Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Beta-catenin is critical for dendritic morphogenesis.

Xiang Yu1, Robert C Malenka

  • 1Nancy Friend Pritzker Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA. yuxiang@stanford.edu

Nature Neuroscience
|October 7, 2003
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Advancing Clinical Translational Research for Profound Autism.

Biological psychiatry·2026
Same author

Local control of dopamine release in nucleus accumbens gates opioid withdrawal aversion.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Dopamine and serotonin inversely modulate D2 medium spiny neurons to regulate cocaine reward.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Serotonin modulates nucleus accumbens circuits to suppress aggression in mice.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Cholinergic modulation of dopamine release drives effortful behaviour.

Nature·2026
Same author

No evidence of immediate or persistent analgesic effect from a single dose of psilocybin in three mouse models of pain.

Nature communications·2026

Beta-catenin regulates dendritic development in neurons. Increasing beta-catenin levels enhances dendritic branching, independent of transcription, highlighting its role in neuronal network formation.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cell Biology
  • Developmental Biology

Background:

  • Dendritic growth and arborization are essential for functional neuronal networks.
  • The molecular mechanisms governing dendritic morphogenesis are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify key regulators of dendritic morphogenesis.
  • To investigate the role of beta-catenin in dendritic development.

Main Methods:

  • Manipulating intracellular levels of beta-catenin and associated proteins (N-cadherin, alphaN-catenin) in rat hippocampal neurons.
  • Assessing the impact on dendritic arborization, branch tip number, and total dendritic branch length.
  • Examining the role of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling and depolarization in dendritic growth.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Elevated intracellular beta-catenin, N-cadherin, and alphaN-catenin significantly enhanced dendritic arborization.
  • This enhancement occurred independently of Wnt/beta-catenin-dependent transcription.
  • Sequestering beta-catenin reduced dendritic branching and length.
  • Depolarization-induced dendritic growth required beta-catenin and increased Wnt release.

Conclusions:

  • Beta-catenin is a critical mediator of dendritic morphogenesis.
  • Intracellular levels of the cadherin/catenin complex act as a limiting factor in dendritic development.
  • Wnt/beta-catenin signaling plays a significant role in neuronal development.