PI 3-kinase delta enhances axonal PIP3 to support axon regeneration in the adult CNS

Barber, A. C.; Evans, R. S.; Nieuwenhuis, B.; Pearson, C. S.; Fuchs, J.; MacQueen, A. R.; Erp, S. v.; Haenzi, B.; Hulshof, L. A.; Osborne, A.; Conceicao, R.; Deshpande, S. S.; Cave, J.; ffrench-Constant, C.; Smith, P. D.; Okkenhaug, K.; Eickholt, B. J.; Martin, K. R.; Fawcett, J. W.; Eva, R.

doi:10.1101/787994

Home/Archive/bioRxiv

bioRxiv · 10.1101/787994

PI 3-kinase delta enhances axonal PIP3 to support axon regeneration in the adult CNS

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Peripheral nervous system (PNS) neurons support axon regeneration into adulthood, whereas central nervous system (CNS) neurons lose regenerative ability after development. To better understand this decline whilst aiming to improve regeneration, we focused on phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and its product phosphatidylinositol(3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PIP3). We found that neuronal PIP3 decreases with maturity in line with regenerative competence, firstly in the cell body and subsequently in the axon. We show that adult PNS neurons utilise two catalytic subunits of PI3K for efficient regeneration: p110 and p110{delta}. Overexpressing p110 in CNS neurons had no effect, however expression of p110{delta} restored axonal PIP3 and enhanced CNS regeneration in rat and human neurons and in transgenic mice, functioning in the same way as the hyperactivating H1047R mutation of p110. Furthermore, viral delivery of p110{delta} promoted robust regeneration after optic nerve injury. These findings demonstrate a deficit of axonal PIP3 as a reason for intrinsic regeneration failure and show that native p110{delta} facilitates axon regeneration by functioning in a hyperactive fashion.

Source connections

Published article ↗

Explore related subjects

neuroscience Preprint

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Barber, A. C., Evans, R. S., Nieuwenhuis, B., Pearson, C. S., Fuchs, J., MacQueen, A. R., Erp, S. v., Haenzi, B., Hulshof, L. A., Osborne, A., Conceicao, R., Deshpande, S. S., Cave, J., ffrench-Constant, C., Smith, P. D., Okkenhaug, K., Eickholt, B. J., Martin, K. R., Fawcett, J. W., Eva, R.. 2019-09-30. PI 3-kinase delta enhances axonal PIP3 to support axon regeneration in the adult CNS. https://doi.org/10.1101/787994

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related preprints

bioRxiv2026

Next generation Human Neocortical Neurosolver model with biophysically realistic somatic, dendritic and synaptic dynamics

The Human Neocortical Neurosolver (HNN) is an open-source biophysical modeling tool for multiscale interpretation of human electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) signals. HNN's foundation is a pre-tuned canonical neocortical circuit model consisting of excitatory pyramidal neurons and inhibitory interneurons in supra- (L2/3) and infragranular (L5) layers. This model was originally developed based on studies in rodent and non-human primate cortices when dynamics of human neurons were poorly characterized. Yet recent advances in recordings from human tissue now provide unprecedented detail to update the model. Here, we present a significantly updated model for use in the HNN software, with electrophysiological properties and synaptic connections tuned to human tissue. Beyond reproducing biologically realistic somatic dynamics, the pyramidal cells simulate dendritic calcium (Ca2+) spikes in the L5 extratelencephalic-projecting (ET) neurons, and shorter dendritic spikes in the L2/3 pyramidal neurons. We demonstrate how the updated circuitry and new features in the HNN software can be used to disentangle somatic, synaptic, and dendritic contributions to human E-/MEG signatures. The model is distributed with workflows to simulate event-related responses and oscillations, and tutorials demonstrating how membrane potentials, Ca2+ dynamics, and synaptic currents can be recorded and visualized. These enhancements allow extensive model validations based on in vitro and in vivo electrophysiology, voltage and Ca2+ imaging, and provide users with novel insights on the mechanisms underlying E-/MEG signals.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

A biological light sheet links cellular voltage to mesoscopic brain dynamics

Membrane voltage is the fundamental currency of neural computation, yet cellular-resolution voltage imaging of large neuronal populations in vivo remains limited by trade-offs among imaging speed, field of view, and optical sectioning. We overcome this challenge by encoding a biological light sheet in the brain: Selective Plane Expression (SPress) restricts fluorescent indicator expression to a user-defined, 20-m-thick plane, suppressing background at its source. Following one-time two-photon photoactivation, SPress enables standard widefield microscopes to capture high-contrast kilohertz voltage dynamics from hundreds of densely labeled neurons across millimeter-scale cortical sheets and columns in vivo. These recordings reveal mesoscopic subthreshold waves that flexibly reorganize population-wide spike timing, together with cellularscale wavefront microstructure that preserves stereotyped local recruitment biases. By shifting optical sectioning from instrumentation to gene expression, SPress makes kilohertz cellular resolution voltage imaging accessible across mesoscopic scales.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Persistent hippocampal traces of lifelong spatial memory

Memory presents a biological paradox: the brain changes continuously, yet a brief experience can influence behavior for a lifetime. How such memories are stored in brain circuits remains unclear. Here we show that two days in a binary-tree maze leave mice with spatial memories that survive repeated 90-day absences over as much as a year. Across return visits, mice explored the maze more efficiently than when naive and resumed direct runs to a reward location sooner, both by a factor of 3. Chronic calcium imaging of the same hippocampal CA1 neurons showed that although most neurons had changed their preferred locations, the population activity at a given maze location still resembled the pattern from 90 days earlier. Furthermore, even when a neuron's place fields changed location, they tended to remain at the same branching level of the binary tree, reflecting the local geometry of the maze. In return sessions where the neural tuning for branching level was preserved more accurately, the mouse explored the environment more efficiently. Population patterns were best preserved near the reward location, and more reliable neural activity there accompanied earlier direct runs to the reward. With repeated experience, spatial representations changed less, both within a visit and across the long absences. A brief experience thus left selective hippocampal traces that survived months of absence despite drift, grew more durable with each return, and were correlated with memory in navigation behavior.

neuroscience↗