These mechanisms comprise developmentally inherited pathways that operate largely independently of cellular environments, orchestrate neuronal responses to extrinsic cues and in turn may be influenced by these cues. Invertebrate model organisms have been invaluable to the study of the cell-intrinsic mechanisms that orchestrate neuronal morphogenesis. Elegant studies in Drosophila have spearheaded the discovery of in vivo functions for transcription factors in diverse aspects of neuronal morphogenesis.
In particular, studies of the da sensory neurons in the fly peripheral nervous system have defined roles for different transcription factors in distinct aspects of dendrite development, from growth and PCI-32765 branching to
tiling ( Jan and Jan, 2003 and Jan and Jan, 2010). Several observations also highlight the importance of cell-intrinsic mechanisms in the control of neuronal morphogenesis and connectivity in mammalian neurons. For example, the in vivo developmental programs of polarization, migration, axon and dendrite growth, and synapse formation are recapitulated in distinct populations of neurons dissociated this website in primary culture (Banker and Goslin, 1991 and Powell et al., 1997). Of course, extrinsic cues and cell-intrinsic mechanisms do not operate in isolation. Isolated primary Purkinje neurons polarize and extend axons, but the proper formation of their dendrites and dendritic spines requires FKBP signals from granule neurons (Baptista et al., 1994). Nevertheless, although extrinsic signals influence neuronal morphogenesis, neurons often seem to carry a memory or intrinsic potential that is not altered by a new and different environment. Transplantation studies have suggested that neuronal precursors of the cerebral cortex that give rise to later-born upper layer neurons are restricted in their developmental potential and do not give rise to earlier-born deep-layer neurons when placed in the subventricular zone (SVZ) of younger hosts undergoing deep layer neurogenesis (Desai and McConnell, 2000 and Frantz and McConnell,
1996). Likewise, transplantation studies have revealed that dendrite morphology and laminar specificity of granule neurons in the rat olfactory bulb appear to be specified at the time of birth in the SVZ (Kelsch et al., 2007). These studies are consistent with the idea that cell intrinsic mechanisms specify a developmental template for different populations of neurons that is retained in new environments. This intrinsic identity may also influence how neurons respond to extrinsic cues. Application of the same neurotrophic factor to neurons located in distinct cerebral cortical layers elicits differential effects on dendrite morphology (McAllister et al., 1995 and McAllister et al., 1997), suggesting that neurons inherit distinct developmental programs that dictate their responses to extrinsic signals.