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Two tandem Netrin genes in Drosophila are expressed at the midline of the developing CNS and in different subsets of neurons, muscles, and epidermal patches. In embryos carrying a small deficiency that deletes both genes, CNS axon commissures are partially missing or thinner. This phenotype is rescued by expressing either Netrin gene at the midline. Pan-neural expression of either gene causes disruption of commissural and longitudinal tracts, indicating that the pattern of Netrin expression is crucial and that Netrins function as instructive cues. The double mutant also shows defects in motor axon projections. Expression of either Netrin gene in all muscles also results in aberrant motor projections. Thus, Drosophila Netrins are required for the guidance of commissural axons at the midline, and of motor axons to their target muscles.

Embryonic retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons must extend toward and grow through the optic disc to exit the eye into the optic nerve. In the embryonic mouse eye, we found that immunoreactivity for the axon guidance molecule netrin-1 was specifically on neuroepithelial cells at the disk surrounding exiting RGC axons, and RGC axons express the netrin receptor, DCC (deleted in colorectal cancer). In vitro, anti-DCC antibodies reduced RGC neurite outgrowth responses to netrin-1. In netrin-1- and DCC-deficient embryos, RGC axon pathfinding to the disc was unaffected; however, axons failed to exit into the optic nerve, resulting in optic nerve hypoplasia. Thus, netrin-1 through DCC appears to guide RGC axons locally at the optic disc rather than at long range, apparently reflecting the localization of netrin-1 protein to the vicinity of netrin-1-producing cells at the optic disc.

SummaryNetrins are secreted proteins that were first identified as guidance cues, directing cell and axon migration during neural development. Subsequent findings have demonstrated that netrins can influence the formation of multiple tissues, including the vasculature, lung, pancreas, muscle and mammary gland, by mediating cell migration, cell-cell interactions and cell-extracellular matrix adhesion. Recent evidence also implicates the ongoing expression of netrins and netrin receptors in the maintenance of cell-cell organisation in mature tissues. Here, we review the mechanisms involved in netrin signalling in vertebrate and invertebrate systems and discuss the functions of netrin signalling during the development of neural and non-neural tissues.Key words: DCC, Adhesion, Axon, Neogenin, Netrin, UNC5 IntroductionNetrins are a family of extracellular, laminin-related (see Glossary, Box 1) proteins that function as chemotropic guidance cues for migrating cells and axons during neural development. They act as chemoattractants for some cell types and chemorepellents for others. Loss-of-function mutations in netrin 1 or in certain netrin receptors are lethal in mice, highlighting the importance of netrin signalling during development. Insights into the functions of netrins have arisen from studies across a wide range of animal species, including invertebrates such as the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, non-mammalian vertebrates such as the frog Xenopus laevis, and mammals including rats, mice and humans.Since its discovery in the early 1990s, it is now becoming clear that the netrin gene family exhibits a rich biology, with significance beyond neural development, and contributes to the organisation of multiple tissues. Along with a number of other identified axon guidance cues (Hinck, 2004), secreted netrins influence organogenesis outside the central nervous system (CNS), directing cell migration and mediating cell-cell adhesion in the lung, pancreas, mammary gland, vasculature and muscle (Kang et al., 2004; Lejmi et al., 2008;Liu et al., 2004;Lu et al., 2004;Srinivasan et al., 2003;Yebra et al., 2003). Here, we discuss the cell biology of netrin and netrin receptor functions and review the downstream signal transduction mechanisms that they activate. We also provide an overview of netrin function during development, both within the nervous system and within other developing organs and tissues. Netrin family membersThe first reported member of the netrin family, uncoordinated-6 (UNC-6), was identified in a search for gene products that regulate neural development in C. elegans (Ishii et al., 1992). Netrins have since been identified and studied in multiple vertebrate and invertebrate species (Table 1), including X. laevis (de la Torre et al., 1997), D. melanogaster (Harris et al., 1996;Mitchell et al., 1996) and the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis (Matus et al., 2006), an animal that exhibits early hallmarks of the origins of bilateral symmetry. In mammals, three...

G0, a GTP-binding protein that transduces information from transmembrane receptors, has been found to be a major component of the neuronal growth cone membrane. GAP-43, an intracellular growth cone protein closely associated with neuronal growth, stimulates GTP-gamma-S binding to G0. It does so through an amino-terminal domain homologous to G-linked transmembrane receptors. Thus, G0 in the growth cone may be regulated by intracellular as well as extracellular signals.

Remyelination, which occurs subsequent to demyelination, contributes to functional recovery and is mediated by oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) that have differentiated into myelinating cells. Therapeutics that impact remyelination in the CNS could be critical determinants of long-term functional outcome in multiple sclerosis (MS). Fingolimod is a S1P receptor modulator in MS clinical trials due to systemic anti-inflammatory properties, yet may impact cells within the CNS by crossing the blood-brain barrier. Previous studies using isolated dissociated cultures indicate that neural cells express S1P receptors and respond to receptor engagement. Our objective was to assess the effects of fingolimod on myelin-related processes within a multicellular environment that maintains physiological cell-cell interactions, using organotypic cerebellar slice cultures. Fingolimod treatment had no impact on myelin under basal conditions. Fingolimod treatment subsequent to lysolecithin-induced demyelination enhanced remyelination and process extension by OPCs and mature oligodendrocytes, while increasing microglia numbers and immunoreactivity for the astrocytic marker glial fibrillary acidic protein. The number of phagocytosing microglia was not increased by fingolimod. Using S1P receptor specific agonists and antagonists, we determined that fingolimod-induced effects on remyelination and astrogliosis were mediated primarily through S1P3 and S1P5, whereas enhanced microgliosis was mediated through S1P1 and S1P5. Taken together, these data demonstrate that fingolimod modulates multiple neuroglial cell responses, resulting in enhanced remyelination in organotypic slice cultures that maintain the complex cellular interactions of the mammalian brain.

FTY720 induces time-dependent modulation of S1P receptors on human OPCs with consequent functional responses that are directly relevant for the remyelination process.