Protein trafficking in cultured hippocampal neurons

神经元是神经系统的组成部分，神经元的主要作用是充当信息处理器。神经元的功能与其形态或形态密切相关。神经元在形态和生物化学上不对称，或极化细胞，包含两个主要区域：轴突和躯体树突区域。轴突负责信息的传输，树突接收和解码来自相邻细胞的信息。建立这两个领域对于构建神经元和神经系统至关重要。此外，细胞的结构是这样的，轴突的尖端可以离细胞体相当远，细胞的许多组成部分都是在那里制造的。因此，神经元依赖于一个复杂的细胞内运输系统，以允许将细胞成分，如蛋白质，运输到细胞内的远端位置。蛋白质在细胞内加工的两条主要途径是生物合成途径和分泌途径，前者主要涉及跨膜蛋白，后者涉及可溶性蛋白质的加工和调节释放。一般来说，在高尔基体中，这两种类型的蛋白质都被分选成载体小泡，沿着微管运输，最后被输送到质膜上，要么加入质膜，要么从细胞中释放出来。这项资助有两个主要目标。一个主要目标是了解细胞如何将膜蛋白靶向树突。另一个主要目的是了解哪些基于微管的马达蛋白负责致密核心小泡的运输。最后，有几个人类和动物疾病的例子，其中潜在的细胞缺陷与蛋白质运输的问题有关。因此，了解蛋白质运输和神经细胞生物学的基本方面将极大地促进我们对卢·格里克和阿尔茨海默病等神经退行性疾病的原因的理解。

Neurons are the building block of the nervous system and the primary role of the neuron is to act as an information processor. The neuron's function is intimately linked to its form, or morphology. Neurons are morphologically and biochemically asymmetric, or polarized cells, containing two primary domains: the axon and the somatodendritic domain. Axons are responsible for the transmission of information and dendrites receive and decode information from neighboring cells. Establishing these two domains is critical in building a neuron, and the nervous system. Additionally, the architecture of the cell is such that the tip of the axon can be quite distant form the cell body where many of the cell's components are made. Thus, neurons rely on an elaborate intracellular transport system to allow for the shipping of cellular components, such as proteins, to distal sites within the cell. Two primary pathways in which proteins are processed in the cell are through the biosynthetic pathway either via the constitutive route, which primarily involves transmembrane proteins, and the secretory route, which involves the processing and regulated release of soluble proteins. In general, both types of proteins are sorted into carrier vesicles in the Golgi apparatus, transported along microtubules, and finally delivered to the plasma membrane for either addition to the plasma membrane or release from the cell. This grant has two main foci.  One major aim is to understand how the cell targets membrane proteins to the dendrites. The other major aim is to understand what microtubule-based motor proteins are responsible for the transport of dense core vesicles. Finally, there are several examples of human and animal diseases where the underlying cellular defect relates to problems in protein trafficking. Thus, understanding the basic aspects of protein trafficking and nerve cell biology will significantly advance our understanding of the causes of neurodegenerative disorders like Lou Gehrig's and Alzheimer's disease.