QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (26) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Rafuse, V. F. Articles by Landmesser, L. T. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Rafuse, V. F. Articles by Landmesser, L. T.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Volume 16, Number 21, Issue of November 1, 1996 pp. 6864-6877
Copyright ©1996 Society for Neuroscience

Selective Innervation of Fast and Slow Muscle Regions during Early Chick Neuromuscular Development

Received May 14, 1996; revised Aug. 1, 1996; accepted Aug. 6, 1996.

Victor F. Rafuse, Louise D. Milner, and Lynn T. Landmesser

Department of Neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-4975

The electrical properties of adult motoneurons are well matched to the contractile properties of the fast or slow muscle fibers that they innervate. How this precise matching occurs developmentally is not known. To investigate whether motoneurons exhibit selectivity in innervating discrete muscle regions, containing either fast or slow muscle fibers during early neuromuscular development, we caused embryonic chick hindlimb muscles to become innervated by segmentally inappropriate motoneurons. We used the in vitro spinal cord-hindlimb preparation to identify electrophysiologically the pools of foreign motoneurons innervating the posterior iliotibialis (pITIB), an all-fast muscle, and the iliofibularis (IFIB), a partitioned muscle containing discrete fast and slow regions. The results showed that the pITIB and the fast region of the IFIB were exclusively innervated by motoneurons that normally supply fast muscles. In contrast, the slow region of the IFIB was always innervated by motoneuron pools that normally supply slow muscles. Some experimental IFIB muscles lacked a fast region and were innervated solely by ``slow'' motoneurons. In addition, the intramuscular nerve branching patterns were always appropriate to the fast-slow nature of the muscle (region) innervated. The selective innervation was found early in the motoneuron death period, and we found no evidence that motoneurons grew into appropriate muscle regions, but failed to form functional contacts. Together, these results support the hypothesis that different classes of motoneurons exhibit molecular differences that allow them to project selectively to, and innervate, muscle fibers of the appropriate type during early neuromuscular development.

Key words: motoneuron; muscle; neuromuscular development; axon guidance; specificity; selective innervation; spinal cord preparation

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Z. A. Rana, K. Gundersen, and A. Buonanno Activity-dependent repression of muscle genes by NFAT PNAS, April 15, 2008; 105(15): 5921 - 5926. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. G. Hanson and L. T. Landmesser Increasing the Frequency of Spontaneous Rhythmic Activity Disrupts Pool-Specific Axon Fasciculation and Pathfinding of Embryonic Spinal Motoneurons J. Neurosci., December 6, 2006; 26(49): 12769 - 12780. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Calvo, D. Vullhorst, P. Venepally, J. Cheng, I. Karavanova, and A. Buonanno Molecular Dissection of DNA Sequences and Factors Involved in Slow Muscle-Specific Transcription Mol. Cell. Biol., December 15, 2001; 21(24): 8490 - 8503. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				V. F. Rafuse and L. T. Landmesser The Pattern of Avian Intramuscular Nerve Branching Is Determined by the Innervating Motoneuron and Its Level of Polysialic Acid J. Neurosci., February 1, 2000; 20(3): 1056 - 1065. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. F. Usiak and L. T. Landmesser Neuromuscular Activity Blockade Induced by Muscimol and d-Tubocurarine Differentially Affects the Survival of Embryonic Chick Motoneurons J. Neurosci., September 15, 1999; 19(18): 7925 - 7939. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				W.-J. Song and F. Murakami Development of Functional Topography in the Corticorubral Projection: An In Vivo Assessment Using Synaptic Potentials Recorded from Fetal and Newborn Cats J. Neurosci., November 15, 1998; 18(22): 9354 - 9364. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. D. Milner, V. F. Rafuse, and L. T. Landmesser Selective Fasciculation and Divergent Pathfinding Decisions of Embryonic Chick Motor Axons Projecting to Fast and Slow Muscle Regions J. Neurosci., May 1, 1998; 18(9): 3297 - 3313. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help