Nuclear Membrane Ruptures in Neurons Lacking Lamin B1

by Natalie Chen

 

Mouse cortical neurons lacking lamin B1 (an inner nuclear membrane

protein that is part of the nuclear lamina, the structural scaffold of the

cell nucleus) were imaged while expressing a nuclear-localized GFP.

Nuclear-localized GFP typically fills the nucleoplasm of a cell.

However, in neurons lacking lamin B1, we see repeated flooding of

GFP out of the nucleus, into the cytoplasm, and back into the

nucleus. We call this nuclear membrane rupture and repair. This

implies that, when missing part of its structural scaffold, the cell

nucleus displays repeated nuclear membrane rupture and repair

(where the contents of the cell nucleus leak out and then return).

Neurons were imaged over 2000 minutes.

Done