Molecular Components of the Synaptic Basal Lamina That Direct Differentiation of Regenerating Neuromuscular Junctions

  1. R.M. Nitkin,
  2. B.G. Wallace,
  3. M.E. Spira*,
  4. E.W. Godfrey, and
  5. U.J. McMahan
  1. Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305

This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.

Excerpt

If muscles are damaged in ways that spare the basal lamina sheaths of the muscle fibers, new myofibers develop within the sheaths, regenerating axons grow to the original synaptic sites on them, and neuromuscular function is restored. At the regenerated neuromuscular junctions, as at the original ones, the nerve terminals have active zones arranged at intervals along their length, and the postsynaptic membrane is characterized by plasma membrane infoldings and a high concentration of acetylcholine receptors (AChRs). This laboratory has undertaken a series of experiments to identify structures in nerve and muscle that play a role in regeneration of the neuromuscular junction and to determine what sorts of information these structures provide. Our results demonstrate that the synaptic portion of the myofiber's basal lamina has stably bound to it molecules that direct the formation of the synaptic specializations in regenerating nerve terminals and muscle fibers. Here we describe some of...

  • *

    * Present address: Neurobiology Unit, Life Sciences Institute, Hebrew University: Jerusalem, Israel

  • Present address: Department of Anatomy, Texas Tech University School of Medicine, Lubbock, Texas.

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