Abstract
This chapter explores some of the complex events within the nerve cell that are triggered by axotomy—the severing of the axon. It emphasizes the interconnectedness of results obtained in a wide variety of systems, from functioning mammalian central and peripheral nervous systems to embryonic cells regenerating in culture and invertebrate nervous systems. It also examines what changes appear in the axotomized neuron. Once the transition from injury to regeneration occurs, regenerating neurons acquire many of the specializations of developing neurons. The movement of the growth cone and elongation of the axon are dependent upon the cell's synthetic machinery and require a specialized cytoskeletal, contractile, and transport apparatus whose mechanisms are not well understood. Because some basic mechanisms of neuronal growth might be expected to be shared with nonneuronal motile cells, the chapter examines growth, metabolism, and cytoskeleton on a more general scale.