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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

A Drosophila In Vivo Injury Model for Studying Neuroregeneration in the Peripheral and Central Nervous System
Published on: May 5, 2018
A little nip and tuck: axon refinement during development and axonal injury
Lawrence K Low1, Hwai-Jong Cheng
1Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, 1544 Newton Court, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Abstract:
While building the nervous system, regions of some developing axons are eliminated; this can also happen as a result of axonal injury. During development, many axon branches that are formed in excess of an organism's needs are fated for removal in a process called axon pruning. By contrast, when axons are injured the axon segment distal to the injury site is compartmentalized and eliminated. In both cases, the end result is similar -- a region of an axon is selected for removal. Recent evidence suggests that there are some similarities in the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate axon elimination in development and during axonal injury.
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