article published yes Joo William author Simon Hippenmeyer author 37B36620-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A870000-0003-2279-1061 Liqun Luo author SiHi department Neurotrophins regulate diverse aspects of neuronal development and plasticity, but their precise in vivo functions during neural circuit assembly in the central brain remain unclear. We show that the neurotrophin receptor tropomyosin-related kinase C (TrkC) is required for dendritic growth and branching of mouse cerebellar Purkinje cells. Sparse TrkC knockout reduced dendrite complexity, but global Purkinje cell knockout had no effect. Removal of the TrkC ligand neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) from cerebellar granule cells, which provide major afferent input to developing Purkinje cell dendrites, rescued the dendrite defects caused by sparse TrkC disruption in Purkinje cells. Our data demonstrate that NT-3 from presynaptic neurons (granule cells) is required for TrkC-dependent competitive dendrite morphogenesis in postsynaptic neurons (Purkinje cells)—a previously unknown mechanism of neural circuit development. American Association for the Advancement of Science2014 eng 00034379970004710.1126/science.1258996 3466209626 - 629 William, J., Hippenmeyer, S., &#38; Luo, L. (2014). Dendrite morphogenesis depends on relative levels of NT-3/TrkC signaling. <i>Science</i>. American Association for the Advancement of Science. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1258996">https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1258996</a> William J, Hippenmeyer S, Luo L. 2014. Dendrite morphogenesis depends on relative levels of NT-3/TrkC signaling. Science. 346(6209), 626–629. William, Joo, Simon Hippenmeyer, and Liqun Luo. “Dendrite Morphogenesis Depends on Relative Levels of NT-3/TrkC Signaling.” <i>Science</i>. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2014. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1258996">https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1258996</a>. William, Joo, et al. “Dendrite Morphogenesis Depends on Relative Levels of NT-3/TrkC Signaling.” <i>Science</i>, vol. 346, no. 6209, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2014, pp. 626–29, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1258996">10.1126/science.1258996</a>. J. William, S. Hippenmeyer, and L. Luo, “Dendrite morphogenesis depends on relative levels of NT-3/TrkC signaling,” <i>Science</i>, vol. 346, no. 6209. American Association for the Advancement of Science, pp. 626–629, 2014. William J, Hippenmeyer S, Luo L. Dendrite morphogenesis depends on relative levels of NT-3/TrkC signaling. <i>Science</i>. 2014;346(6209):626-629. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1258996">10.1126/science.1258996</a> J. William, S. Hippenmeyer, L. Luo, Science 346 (2014) 626–629. 20212018-12-11T11:55:15Z2025-09-29T11:59:07Z