COMPUTER-SIMULATION OF NEURITE OUTGROWTH

Over a limited range of scale, the dendritic branching of many neurons is fractal. We propose a growth model, which accounts for the basic p henomena of neural growth, and reproduces such fractal structures. In the model, fibrillar proteins diffusing into the cell interact at the boundary with chemoattractant molecules coming from outside to shape t he cell. In a parameter range where growth is limited by the diffusion of chemoattractant molecules, diffuse fractal dendritic trees are obt ained; analogous to DLA aggregates. For time scales in which growth is limited by the rate of motion of fibrillar proteins, fractal dentriti c trees form, but growth is localized to certain surface regions on th e shape, which resemble experimental growth cones.