Authors:

Gaurangi Yadav

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About Paper:

The neuronal growth cone is a highly motile structure that aids growing axons by mechanically and chemically sensing the environment that the neuron is growing in and guiding the axons towards favorable conditions. Growth cones also aid neuronal outgrowth by generating traction forces via substrate-cytoskeletal coupling and actin filament retrograde flow. Previous literature has shown that growth cones from central nervous system (CNS) neurons and peripheral nervous system (PNS) neurons have different preferences for substrate stiffness and subsequently, generate different traction forces. However, the relationship of traction forces and neurite growth on substrates of different stiffness is not fully understood. In this project, in order to further understand the mechanisms of mechanosensing during adhesion-mediated growth cone advance on substrates of preferred stiffness, we cultured Aplysia Californica bag cell neurons, on polyacrylamide hydrogels of preferred stiffness. We performed traction microscopy, where we used the displacement of fluorescent beads in the hydrogels to quantify the traction force as well as the stress fields generated by the growth cones. Currently, we are working on the analysis of the images in order to calculate these traction forces and stress fields generated by the growth cones on hydrogels of different stiffness. We hope that this work will provide a better understanding of the mechanosensing by neuronal growth cones. Keywords: Traction Force Microscopy; Fluorescent Bead Microscopy; Growth Cone; Mechanosensing; Neuronal Development

Source:

Purdue University / 2025

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Co-authors:

Gaurangi Yadav