This could derive from the tectum, reached in all cases by caudally mis-projecting axons, or from the extensive dorsal telencephalic arborization field, reached by rostrally mis-projecting axons. The telencephalic termination field is ectopic and it is unclear which factors allow optic axons to terminate in this position.
In other mutants for axon guidance molecules, the extent of error correction of axonal pathfinding varies: In contrast to optic axons in astray, severe projection errors of peripheral nerves in sema3A deficient mice are corrected during development by an unknown mechanism (White and Behar 2000). However, ephA4 deficient mice retain developmental mis-wiring in the spinal cord in adults, leading to a severely abnormal gait (Kullander, Butt et al. 2003).
The functional consequences of mis-projections of optic axons in adult astray mutants are unknown, however, larval astray mutants exhibit surprisingly normal optokinetic and optomotor responses (Neuhauss, Biehlmaier et al. 1999).
4.2.2 Possible Contribution of robo2 to Correct Pathfinding of the Regenerating Optic Projection
Optic axons re-commit astray-specific errors during regeneration, showing that robo2 plays a role for axonal regeneration. Many aberrant projections established during development are not corrected in adult astray mutants, suggesting a low propensity for correction of erroneous optic projections in zebrafish.
The errors committed by regenerating robo2 deficient axons indicate that robo2 is necessary for correct rostro-caudal pathfinding, avoidance of ectopic midline crossing, precise target zone termination of optic axons and fasciculated growth of regenerating optic axons into the tectum. Regulation patterns of robo2 and slit ligands correlate with this function: robo2 is expressed in the retinal growth zone of juvenile zebrafish, and re-expressed in all retinal ganglion cells after optic nerve crush in wild type animals. This is typical for receptors implicated in axon targeting during development and regeneration of the optic projection (Bernhardt, Tongiorgi et al. 1996).
Slits expressed in the brain and surrounding the optic chiasm appear to signal through robo2 to prevent and correct pathfinding errors, shaping e.g. the chiasm by surround repulsion (Hutson and Chien 2002; Plump, Erskine et al. 2002) representing the corresponding guidance cue. Recently, slit/robo signaling was shown to play a role in inhibiting RGC arborization and synaptogenesis in the CNS in vivo (Campbell, Stringham et al. 2007).
Slits are likely the relevant guidance cues, and their expression patterns correlate with targeting errors observed in the regenerated optic projection of astray mutants: the rostral tectum, in which defasciculated growth of axons occurs and abnormal deep innervation of the tectum originates, is bordered by slit2 and slit1b mRNA expression in the habenula. The posterior commissure, through which regenerating axons aberrantly cross, is bisected by midline slit1b mRNA expression. Aberrantly large terminal fields in the pretectum correlate with slit1a and slit3 expression, and expanded termination zones of optic axons in the tectum correlate with slit1a mRNA expression there. However, the strong expression of slit2 in the vicinity of the chiasm cannot easily be correlated with guidance of regenerating optic axons, because regeneration through the chiasm and the ventral diencephalon is comparable between wild type and astray animals (see section 3.3.1; Figure 15).
Interestingly, rostro-caudal pathfinding errors and aberrant midline crossing occur significantly less frequently in astray animals with a regenerated optic projection than in unlesioned astray animals that retained these aberrations from development. In contrast, termination errors in the tectum and defasciculated growth of optic axons into the tectum are found in all mutants with a regenerated optic projection. The increased thickness of the tectal termination layer stays exactly the same after a lesion suggesting an important role for robo2 regarding correct tectal termination (see Table 10 which summarizes all observed phenotypical errors). Correlated with this observation, tectal expression of slit1a, which regulates arbor growth and synapse formation of developing optic axons (Campbell, Stringham et al. 2007), is maintained in the adult. Regarding pathfinding and termination errors, robo2 does play a role in regeneration, but not in the same manner at all pathfinding decision points. As seen in the results, regenerating fibers which create optic axon bundles, while growing towards their targets, are not as strongly prone to errors as they are in their refinement state terminating at a specific spot when they recommit heavy mistakes.
Termination errors do not seem random but restricted to specific areas and recurrently appear in the same manner, e.g. the thickness of the tectal termination zone is always between 37.8 Xm and 61.6 Xm in wild type fish whereas in the astray mutant thickness always lay between 74.2 Xm and 102.2 Xm. This indicates that the tectal termination zone in every mutant animal was consistently thicker than in the wild type. Also, the tectal termination zone of mutants is confined to a specific thickness, underlining that committed errors are not random and seem restricted by molecules so far not known to regulate thickness of termination.
Phenotypical errors Astray unlesioned
Wild type unlesioned
Astray with regenerated optic
projection
Wild type with regenerated optic
projection
Irregular growth into telencephalon 93% 0% 7% 0%
Irregular growth into tegmentum 27% 0% 7% 0%
Termination errors at pretectal targets 100% 0% 93% 15%
Termination errors in the tectum
(thickness) 92.4Xm 48.8Xm 89.6Xm 48.5Xm
Crossing errors at the posterior
commissure 73% 0% 40% 0%
Ipsilateral blocks of innervations 100% 0% 13% 0%
Gaps in the contralateral innervations 87% 0% 53% 0%
Defasciculation of the dorsal optic tract 93% 0% 100% 0%
Fascicles of optic fibers below the optic layers in the tectum
87% 0% 67% 0%
Errors at the optic chiasm 7% 17% 53% 46%
Table 10: Summary of all phenotypical errors observed in astray mutants and wild types. Column 1 and 2 show unlesioned animals, column 3 and 4 display animals with a regenerated optic projection 4 weeks after an optic nerve lesion.
The different optic projection error phenotypes (see Table 10) observable for unlesioned astray mutants and astray mutants with a regenerated optic projection might be due to different expression of pathfinding genes. During pathfinding of regenerating optic axons, the relative importance of cues for some aspects of guidance may have changed, compared to axon guidance during development. Observing the expression of RGCs regeneration-associated molecules - specifically receptors for guidance cues - such as the actin-interacting protein gelsolin (Roth, Bormann et al. 1999), the recognition molecules zfNLRR (Bormann, Roth et al. 1999) and contactin1a (Schweitzer, Gimnopoulos et al. 2007), it becomes clear that these molecules are expressed at much higher levels during axon regrowth than during development. Conversely, the polysialic acid modification of NCAM is present on newly growing axons and not on regenerating axons (Harman, Rodger et al. 2003).
In fact, several guidance cues in addition to slits, such as chondroitin sulfates (Becker and Becker 2002), tenascin-R (Becker, Schweitzer et al. 2004), semaphorins (Becker and Becker
2007; Feldner, Reimer et al. 2007), Netrin-1 (Charron, Stein et al. 2003) and Ephrins (Becker, Meyer et al. 2000) are present along the adult optic pathway and may guide regenerating optic axons in a combinatorial manner.
4.2.3 Guidance of Regenerating CNS Axons by Degenerating Tracts
The results of this investigation suggest that regenerating CNS axons are not guided by degenerating tracts and robo2 might contribute to pathfinding of regenerating optic axons.
Furthermore, it can be shown that correction of developmental pathfinding and targeting errors of optic axons is inefficient in robo2 deficient zebrafish.
The adult astray mutant uniquely enabled us to test whether degenerating CNS tracts are a strong guidance cue for regenerating axons. This is because the mutant contains ectopic optic tracts that develop stochastically in two thirds of the animals and are mostly retained in adults.
We pre-selected larvae for the presence of an ectopic telencephalic tract for adult regeneration experiments. This procedure was efficient, judged by the presence of ectopic telencephalic tracts in 14 out of 15 unlesioned, pre-selected adult animals. If degenerating tracts were an attractive guidance cue, we would expect regenerating optic axons to re-enter these tracts in almost all cases. However, growth of regenerating optic axons into the telencephalon was extremely rare following an optic nerve crush in astray mutants that were pre-selected for the presence of a telencephalic projection (1 of 15 animals). Furthermore, evidence from previous enucleation experiments (Schweitzer, Becker et al. 2003; Schweitzer, Gimnopoulos et al.
2007) indicates that optic tracts are unchanged in diameter through at least 4 weeks post-lesion, when regeneration is complete (Becker, Meyer et al. 2000) suggesting that degenerating ectopic tracts are available to regenerating axons, but are not re-entered. Thus, regenerating optic axons do not simply follow mechanical or non-specific molecular cues present in degenerating tracts. This differs from observations in the peripheral nervous system in mice. In this system, repeated imaging of regenerating motor axons suggested that axons re-traced their former trajectories within remaining Schwann cell tubes due to mechanical constraints and possibly interactions with Schwann cell and basal lamina derived growth-promoting molecules (Nguyen, Sanes et al. 2002). Similarly, it has been suggested from electron-microscopic observations of the optic nerve of salamanders that regenerating optic axons use degenerating fibers as guidance cues (Turner and Singer 1974). Even though fish oligodendrocytes, the myelinating cells of the CNS, up-regulate growth-promoting molecules, such as L1-related proteins (Bernhardt, Tongiorgi et al. 1996; Ankerhold, Leppert et al. 1998), P0 (Schweitzer, Becker et al. 2003) and contactin1a (Schweitzer, Gimnopoulos et al. 2007)
after a tract lesion, regenerating axons are not enticed to enter the degenerating ectopic telencephalic optic tract. This indicates that regenerating optic axons show active, target-oriented navigation during regeneration. Our results suggest that ectopic tracts were not re-innervated, even though they contain growth-promoting glial cells. This alludes that presenting axons in the non-regenerating CNS of mammals with growth-promoting glial cells (Barnett and Riddell 2007) may not be sufficient to induce directed growth of axons, if specific navigational cues are not provided at the same time.