PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Veronika Kravtsov
AU  - Meital Oren-Suissa
AU  - Benjamin Podbilewicz
TI  - AFF-1 fusogen can rejuvenate the regenerative potential of adult dendritic trees via self-fusion
AID  - 10.1101/062679
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 062679
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/01/09/062679.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/01/09/062679.full
AB  - The aging brain undergoes structural changes, affecting brain homeostasis, neuronal function and consequently cognition. Neuronal dendrites are central in the formation and maintenance of neural networks, and the extent of arborization determines the synaptic properties of the neuron. The complex architecture of dendritic arbors poses a challenge to understanding age-dependent morphological alterations, behavioral plasticity and remodeling following brain injury. Here, we use the PVD polymodal neurons of C. elegans as a model to study how aging affects neuronal plasticity. Using confocal live imaging of C. elegans PVD neurons, we demonstrate major age-related progressive morphological alterations of intricate dendritic arbors. We show that insulin/IGF-1 receptor mutations (daf-2) fail to inhibit the progressive morphological aging of dendrites and do not prevent the minor, but significant, decline in response to harsh touch during aging. We use the PVD neurons to study how aging animals respond to neuronal trauma. We uncovered that PVD aging is characterized by a major decline in regenerative potential of dendrites following experimental laser dendrotomy. Furthermore, the remodeling of transected dendritic trees via AFF-1-mediated self-fusion can be restored in old animals by DAF-2 insulin/IGF-1 receptor mutations, and can be differentially reestablished by ectopic expression of AFF-1 fusion protein (fusogen). Thus, AFF-1 fusogen ectopically expressed in the PVD and mutations in DAF-2/IGF-1R, differentially rejuvenate some aspects of dendritic regeneration following injury.