Disease relevance of plasticin

• Differing effects on assembly were seen with point mutations of plasticin monomers that were analogous to the keratin mutations that cause epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS) [1].
• Cloning of zebrafish neurofilament cDNAs for plasticin and gefiltin: increased mRNA expression in ganglion cells after optic nerve injury [2].

High impact information on plasticin

• The assembly characteristics of the neuronal intermediate filament protein plasticin were studied in SW13 cells in the presence and absence of a cytoplasmic filament network [1].
• In addition, the cDNAs for zebrafish plasticin and gefiltin were cloned and characterized [2].
• The majority of plasticin-positive neurons are within or project axons to the peripheral nervous system [3].
• At later developmental stages, plasticin is expressed in a subset of the cranial nerves [3].
• Plasticin is expressed also in reticulospinal neurons and in caudal primary motoneurons [3].

Biological context of plasticin

• In particular, plasticin monomers with point mutations analogous to those in EBS do not uniformly inhibit neurofilament (NF) network formation [1].

Anatomical context of plasticin

• In the teleost visual pathway, the sequential expression of two IF genes, plasticin and gefiltin, is linked to the age of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and to the regeneration of optic axons after nerve injury [4].
• Thus, during RGC development, expression of plasticin and gefiltin resembles that with optic nerve regeneration [4].
• Gefiltin is expressed after plasticin, during the later stages of retinal development when axons grow past the optic chiasm and innervate their targets [4].
• Outside of the visual pathway, gefiltin is predominantly expressed in the central nervous system whereas plasticin is primarily expressed in the peripheral nervous system [4].
• Plasticin is expressed first in trigeminal, Rohon-Beard, and posterior lateral line ganglia neurons, which are among the earliest neurons to initiate axonogenesis in zebrafish [3].

Other interactions of plasticin

• We analyzed the pattern of gefiltin expression during zebrafish development and compared it to our previous determination of plasticin expression (Canger et al. 1998) [4].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of plasticin

• By using immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization, we found that plasticin is expressed in restricted subsets of early zebrafish neurons [3].

References