Clear a Path

To lift your finger and click on this page, messages must fly between your brain and muscles to coordinate the movement. Signals travel along a vast network of neurons, but how each neuron develops in just the right place is not well understood. Researchers have previously interrogated genetic activity within the nervous system during growth, but a recent study broadened the approach, testing the impact of genetic mutations in other parts of the body as well. They discovered that mutations affecting the vascular system hampered neuron development. If blood vessels – essential for providing neurons with fuel to grow – lacked a particular receptor, they failed to make space for growing neurons (right, in green neurons blocked by red blood vessels compared to healthy mice, left, with neurons reaching cleanly towards muscles). This could have implications for many conditions linked to motor neurons, such as ALS, and treatment approaches focused on growing new neurons to replace damaged ones.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

Website

• Image from work by Luis F. Martins and colleagues
• San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Division of Neuroscience, Milan, Italy & Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in Neuron, October 2022