Berlin 2005 – scientific programme

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AKB: Biologische Physik

AKB 100: Poster Session I

AKB 100.42: Poster

Saturday, March 5, 2005, 16:45–18:45, Poster TU D

Noninvasive measurement of retrograde flow and actin polymerization in neuronal growth cones — •Timo Betz, Daniel Koch, Daryl Lim, Michael Gögler, Allen Ehrlicher, Björn Stuhrmann, and Josef Käs — Univeristät Leipzig, Fakultät für Physik und Geowissenschaften, Abt. PWM, Linnestrasse 5, 04103 Leipzig

Cell motility in most eukaryotic cells is maintained by a complex interplay of actin polymerization at the leading edge of a cell and a steady flow of the actin network away from the leading edge in a process called retrograde flow. Over a decade ago, the inverse relationship between retrograde flow and the protrusion of the leading edge was discovered, but up to now the exact mechanism which drives this process has not been unraveled. To gain further insight into the mechanisms driving retrograde flow, we developed a new method that applies a cross-correlation algorithm to time series images of GFP-actin transfected neuronal cells (NG108-15) to calculate the retrograde flow field in growth cones. Furthermore, an estimation of actin polymerization rates is possible by comparing measured retrograde flow with the protrusion of the leading edge. Thus, we provide a noninvasive tool to explore how the interplay of the two counterbalancing processes of actin-polymerization and retrograde flow results in locomotion of neuronal growth cones.