Formation and plasticity of neuromuscular synaptic connections.
Formation and plasticity of neuromuscular synaptic connections.
复制标题
神经肌肉突触连接的形成和可塑性。
DOI：
10.1097/00004311-200604420-00009
复制
发表时间：
2006
影响因子：
0.6
通讯作者：
Balice-Gordon,RitaJ
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Song,Yuanquan;Panzer,JessicaA;Wyatt,RyanM;Balice-Gordon,RitaJ
The specificity of synaptic connections that is essential for nervous system function arises during development through a series of events, including axon outgrowth, pathway selection, target selection, synaptogenesis, and synapse elimination. Neuromuscular synapses between spinal motor neurons and skeletal muscle fibers have become one of the most widely used model systems to study these events owing to its relatively large size, accessibility, and the wealth of molecular and functional information about their formation, maintenance, and plasticity. 1, 2Neuromuscular synapses are established through complex multidirectional signaling among presynaptic motor neurons, postsynaptic muscle fibers (Figs. 1, 2; Refs. 3–5), and perisynaptic glia. 6 These synapses consist of specialized regions of the presynaptic membrane, termed active zones, at which clustered synaptic vesicles fuse and release the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh), as well as peptides such as calcitonin gene-related peptide and other signaling molecules. Directly apposed to the presynaptic active zones are acetylcholine receptors (AChRs), which cluster at the crests of junctional folds in the muscle fiber membrane. These AChRs bind ACh that has diffused across the synaptic cleft, leading to subsequent depolarization, which, if above threshold, leads to contraction of the muscle fiber. 1 The temporal and spatial extent of ACh signaling is regulated by acetycholinesterase, which is located within the basal lamina that invaginates the synaptic cleft, and cleaves ACh, thereby terminating the signal. 7 Surrounding the neuromuscular synapses are perisynaptic Schwann cells, specialized glia
