Abstract

AVILA, Oscar; HERNANDEZ, Damián; BARRIO, Rafael A.  and  ZHANG, Limei. Modeling neurite growth. TIP [online]. 2007, vol.10, n.1, pp.5-13. ISSN 1405-888X.

The correct functioning of the nervous system, even from early embrio stages, requires that neurons establish specific connections with other neurons or tissues. Since a neuronal network consists of an enormous number neurons, finding the correct pathway for each one of them clearly constitutes a problem of morphogenesis. In this article we study experimentally neurite growth using various culture media, and construct a theoretical model to explain the experimental results. Numerical simulations reproduce the observations and allow to predict the existence and functioning of chemicals which are important in neurite growth and guidance to attain connections.

Keywords : Cell culture; anomalous diffusion; axon guidance; Turing patters; neuronal network.