Preferential initiation of PC12 neurites in directions of changing substrate adhesivity.

When PC12 cells are grown on substrates showing a gradient of nonspecific adhesion, they preferentially initiate neurites in directions of changing adhesivity, whether that change is in the direction of increasing or decreasing adhesivity. This preference for changing adhesivity is ablated both by C. difficile toxin A, which inhibits all Rho-family GTPases, and by C. botulinum C3 exoenzyme, which specifically inhibits Rho. Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.