Marchetti L, Luin S, Bonsignore F, de Nadai T, Beltram F, Cattaneo A. Ligand-induced dynamics of neurotrophin receptors investigated by single-molecule imaging approaches.
Int J Mol Sci 2015;
16:1949-79. [PMID:
25603178 PMCID:
PMC4307343 DOI:
10.3390/ijms16011949]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2014] [Accepted: 01/05/2015] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Neurotrophins are secreted proteins that regulate neuronal development and survival, as well as maintenance and plasticity of the adult nervous system. The biological activity of neurotrophins stems from their binding to two membrane receptor types, the tropomyosin receptor kinase and the p75 neurotrophin receptors (NRs). The intracellular signalling cascades thereby activated have been extensively investigated. Nevertheless, a comprehensive description of the ligand-induced nanoscale details of NRs dynamics and interactions spanning from the initial lateral movements triggered at the plasma membrane to the internalization and transport processes is still missing. Recent advances in high spatio-temporal resolution imaging techniques have yielded new insight on the dynamics of NRs upon ligand binding. Here we discuss requirements, potential and practical implementation of these novel approaches for the study of neurotrophin trafficking and signalling, in the framework of current knowledge available also for other ligand-receptor systems. We shall especially highlight the correlation between the receptor dynamics activated by different neurotrophins and the respective signalling outcome, as recently revealed by single-molecule tracking of NRs in living neuronal cells.
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