Functional compartmentalization of the neuronal growth cone: determining calcium's place in signaling cascades.

The growth cone is generally regarded as the basic unit of neuronal organization concerned with development of connections within the nervous system. The discussion below illustrates that the growth cone itself can be subdivided into distinct units of organization. It is this functional compartmentalization which enables the growth cone to read the molecular terrain it traverses and to convert this information into precise motor events. Our discussion will focus on the flow of information from the environment to the growth cone. In particular, we will follow signaling events from their remote processing within filopodia to the biological equivalent of a central processing unit in the core of the growth cone.