New mechanism explains how nerve cells form one long output branch

DZNE researchers have uncovered a mechanism that determines why a neuron usually forms a single, long extension called an "axon"—a phenomenon that is fundamental to how our brain functions.

Contrary to the common view that external cues drive axon formation, the team of scientists concluded that its growth originates primarily inside the cell.

Their work, based on cell cultures and published in the journal Nature with collaborators from other institutions in Germany, Austria and Japan, reveals how a neuron's structure is remodeled to generate the axon. ...