Oscillations in a neurite growth model with extracellular feedback

Abstract

We take into account the influence of extracellular signalling on neurite elongation in a model of neurite growth mediated by building proteins (e.g. tubulin). Tubulin production dynamics was supplied by a function describing the influence of the extracellular signalling that can promote or depress the elongation. We found that such extracellular feedback can generate neurite length oscillations with periodic sequence of elongations and retractions. The oscillations prevent further outgrowth of the neurite which becomes trapped in the non-uniform extracellular field. We analyzed the characteristics of the elongation process for different distributions of attracting and repelling sources of the extracellular signal molecules. The model predicts three different scenarios of the neurite development in the extracellular field including monotonic and oscillatory outgrowth, localized limit cycle oscillations and complete depression of the growth.