Laminin-332 coordinates mechanotransduction and growth cone bifurcation in sensory neurons

Li-Yang Chiang, Kate Poole, Beatriz E Oliveira, Neuza Duarte, Yinth Andrea Bernal Sierra, Leena Bruckner-Tuderman, Manuel Koch, Jing Hu, Gary R Lewin.

Nature Neuroscience, 2011


The authors found that mouse epidermal keratinocytes produce a matrix that is inhibitory for sensory mechanotransduction and that the active molecular component is laminin-332. Laminin-332 could locally control sensory axon branching behavior, and the loss of laminin-332 in humans led to increased sensory terminal branching and may lead to a de-repression of mechanosensitive currents.