The Journal of Neuroscience, February 15, 2003, 23(4):1351
Target-Derived Trophic Effect on Skeletal Muscle Innervation in
Senescent Mice
María Laura
Messi1 and
Osvaldo
Delbono1, 2, 3
Departments of 1 Physiology and Pharmacology and
2 Internal Medicine, Gerontology and
3 Neuroscience Program, Wake Forest University School of
Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157
In the present work, we tested the hypothesis that target-derived
insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) prevents alterations in
neuromuscular innervation in aging mammals. To explore this hypothesis,
we studied senescent wild-type mice as a model of deficient
IGF-1 secretion and signaling and S1S2 transgenic mice as a tool to
investigate the role of sustained overexpression of IGF-1 in striated
muscle in neuromuscular innervation. The analysis of the nerve terminal
in extensor digitorum longus muscles from senescent mice showed that
the decrease in the percentage of cholinesterase-stained zones (CSZ)
exhibiting nerve terminal branching, number of nerve branches at the
CSZ, and nerve branch points was partially or completely reversed by
sustained overexpression of IGF-1 in skeletal muscle. Target-derived
IGF-1 also prevented age-related decreases in the postterminal
-bungarotoxin immunostained area, as well as the reduction in the
number and length of postsynaptic folds, and area and density of
postsynaptic folds studied with electron microscopy. Overexpression of
IGF-1 in skeletal muscle may account for the lack of age-dependent
switch in muscle fiber type composition recorded in senescent mice. In
summary, the use of the S1S2 IGF-1 transgenic mouse model allowed us to
provide morphological evidence for the role of target-derived IGF-1 in spinal cord motor neurons in senescent mice.
Key words:
target-derived trophic effect; IGF-1; aging; neuromuscular junction; skeletal muscle; innervation; denervation; mouse
Copyright © 2003 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/03/2341351-09$05.00/0