Neurones établissant leurs prolongements pour construire leur réseau de connexions nerveuses

Bird embryo neurons sending out extensions (in green) to establish a network of neural connections, observed using confocal microscopy. The inset image shows a parent cell of such neurons, which has retracted its two extensions in order to swell and divide, giving birth to two daughter cells (genetic material shown in red). It retains a vestige of its initial morphology by accumulating proteins at the sites where its extensions retracted (visible in green). These marks will subsequently enable the daughter cells to form their own long extensions at the same location, as shown in green in the main image.