Changes in composition and activity of microtubule-associated proteins during brain development

Abstract

The onset of neuronal differentiation is characterised by intensive neurite growth; because microtubule formation is strictly required during this process^1–3, in vitro assembly of the tubulin present in the rat brain has been studied at different stages of development⁴: the rate of assembly is very slow in the early stages and increases progressively with age from birth until adulthood. Other data⁴ also suggested that the limiting factor in the young brain is the amount or activity of one or several of the minor components which co-polymerise into microtubules with tubulin. We show here that both the composition and the activity of the microtubule-associated proteins change during the time course of rat brain development.