Autonomous regulation of growth cone filopodia

The fan-shaped array of filopodia is the first site of contact of a neuronal growth cone with molecules encountered during neuronal pathfinding. Filopodia are highly dynamic structures, and the "action radius" of a growth cone is strongly determined by the length and number of its filopodia. Since interactions of filopodia with instructive cues in the vicinity of the growth cone can have effects on growth cone morphology within minutes, it has to be assumed that a large part of the signaling underlying such morphological changes resides locally within the growth cone proper. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that two important growth cone parameters-namely, the length and number of its filopodia-are regulated autonomously in the growth cone. We previously demonstrated in identified neurons from the snail Helisoma trivolvis that filopodial length and number are regulated by intracellular calcium. Here, we investigated filopodial dynamics and their regulation by the second-messenger calcium in growth cones which were physically isolated from their parent neuron by neurite transection. Our results show that isolated growth cones have longer but fewer filopodia than growth cones attached to their parent cell. These isolated growth cones, however, are fully capable of undergoing calcium-induced cytoskeletal changes, suggesting that the machinery necessary to perform changes in filopodial length and number is fully intrinsic to the growth cone proper.