The Axonal Glycolytic Pathway Contributes to Sensory Axon Extension and Growth Cone Dynamics

Understanding the bioenergetics of axon extension and maintenance has wide ranging implications for neurodevelopment and disease states. Glycolysis is a pathway consisting of 10 enzymes and separated into preparatory and payoff phases, the latter producing ATP. Using embryonic chicken sensory neurons, we report that glycolytic enzymes are found through the axon and the growth cone. Pharmacological inhibition of glycolysis in the presence of NGF impairs axon extension and growth cone dynamics within minutes without affecting axon maintenance. Experiments using microfluidic chambers show that the effect of inhibiting glycolysis on axon extension is local along distal axons and can be reversed by promoting mitochondrial respiration. Knockdown of GAPDH simplifies growth cone morphology and is rescued by shRNA-resistant GAPDH expression. Rescue of GAPDH using KillerRed fused to GAPDH followed by localized chromophore-assisted light inactivation of KillerRed-GAPDH in distal axons halts growth cone dynamics. Considering filament polymerization requires ATP, inhibition of glycolysis results in a paradoxical increase in axonal actin filament levels. The effect on actin filaments is because of enzymes before GAPDH, the first enzyme in the payoff phase. In the absence of NGF, inhibition of glycolysis along distal axons results in axon degeneration independent of cell death. These data indicate that the glycolytic pathway is operative in distal axons and contributes to the rate of axon extension and growth cone dynamics in the presence of NGF and that, in the absence of NGF, the axonal glycolytic pathway is required for axon maintenance.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Elucidation of the sources of ATP required for axon extension and maintenance has implications for understanding the mechanism of neuronal development and diseases of the nervous system. While recent work has emphasized the importance of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, the role of the glycolytic pathway in axon morphogenesis and maintenance remains minimally understood. The data reveal that the glycolytic pathway is required for normal sensory axon extension in the presence of NGF, while in the absence of NGF the glycolytic pathway is required for axon maintenance. The results have implications for the understanding of the bioenergetics of axon morphogenesis and plasticity and indicate that NGF has protective effects on sensory axon maintenance in hypoglycemic states.