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Advancing Our Understanding Of Mechanosensitive Microtubule Acetylation In Neurons, Margaret Earl Utgaard

Master's Theses

Stiffness is a signaling cue in the brain, and neuronal response to stiffness impacts development, injury and disease. Mechanotransduction is the process of cells interpreting and converting mechanical cues to biochemical signals. Tubulin acetylation increases microtubule stability and could be mechanosensitive. The impact of stiffness on tubulin acetylation and role of septins is the focus of this project.It was hypothesized that stiffer surfaces would increase tubulin acetylation. SH-SY5Y cells were plated on varying stiffness and the ratio of acetylated to alpha tubulin was measured using immunocytochemistry. This study found SH-SY5Y cells had the highest acetylation on hard surfaces. SH-SY5Y cells …