Molecular Biology of Neuronal Geometry: Expression of Neurofilament Genes Influences Axonal Diameter

Abstract

Comparisons of the shapes of particular neurons in organisms with the same genotype demonstrate hat al-though the detailed geometry of the neurons may differ, the basic form of these cells is preserved (Macagno 1980). These observations suggest that the information that determines the basic form of these neurons is heri-table, and this raises a fundamental question for molec-ular neurobiology: How is information that is encoded in the genome xpressed into the specific geometries of the many different types of neurons that exist in ner-vous systems? One of the important keys to the solution of this problem resides within neuronal cytoskeletons, because these structures represent he supporting framework that defines the shape of the nerve cell (Hill-man 1980). The geometry of the neuron is an external