TY - JOUR T1 - Complex Gangliosides at the Neuromuscular Junction Are Membrane Receptors for Autoantibodies and Botulinum Neurotoxin But Redundant for Normal Synaptic Function JF - The Journal of Neuroscience JO - J. Neurosci. SP - 6876 LP - 6884 DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.22-16-06876.2002 VL - 22 IS - 16 AU - Roland W. M. Bullens AU - Graham M. O'Hanlon AU - Eric Wagner AU - Peter C. Molenaar AU - Keiko Furukawa AU - Koichi Furukawa AU - Jaap J. Plomp AU - Hugh J. Willison Y1 - 2002/08/15 UR - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/22/16/6876.abstract N2 - One specialization of vertebrate presynaptic neuronal membranes is their multifold enrichment in complex gangliosides, suggesting that these sialoglycolipids may play a major functional role in synaptic transmission. We tested this hypothesis directly by studying neuromuscular synapses of mice lacking complex gangliosides attributable to deletion of the gene coding for β1,4 GalNAc-transferase (GM2/GD2 synthase), which catalyzes an early step in ganglioside synthesis. Our studies show that complex gangliosides are surprisingly redundant for regulated neurotransmitter release under normal physiological conditions. In contrast, we show that they are membrane receptors for both the paralytic botulinum neurotoxin type-A and human neuropathy-associated anti-ganglioside autoantibodies that arise through molecular mimicry with microbial structures. These data prove the critical importance of complex gangliosides in mediating pathophysiological events at the neuromuscular synapse. ER -