Formation of the neuromuscular junction: molecules and mechanisms

The vertebrate skeletal neuromuscular junction is the site at which motor neurons communicate with their target muscle fibers. At this synapse, as at synapses throughout the nervous system, efficient and appropriate communication requires the formation and precise alignment of specializations for tr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BioEssays 1998-10, Vol.20 (10), p.819-829
Main Authors: Meier, Thomas, Wallace, Bruce G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agrin - physiology
Animals
Cell Differentiation
Cytoskeletal Proteins - physiology
Exocytosis
Gene Expression Regulation
Integrins - physiology
Laminin - physiology
Macromolecular Substances
Membrane Proteins - physiology
Muscle Proteins - physiology
Nerve Tissue Proteins - physiology
Neuromuscular Junction - physiology
Neuromuscular Junction - ultrastructure
Rats
Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases - physiology
Receptors, Cholinergic
Receptors, Growth Factor - physiology
Schwann Cells - physiology
Signal Transduction
Synapses - physiology
Synapses - ultrastructure
Vertebrates - anatomy & histology
Vertebrates - physiology
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Summary:The vertebrate skeletal neuromuscular junction is the site at which motor neurons communicate with their target muscle fibers. At this synapse, as at synapses throughout the nervous system, efficient and appropriate communication requires the formation and precise alignment of specializations for transmitter release in the axon terminal with those for transmitter detection in the postsynaptic cell. Classical developmental studies demonstrate that synapse formation at the neuromuscular junction is a mutually inductive event; neurons induce postsynaptic differentiation in muscle cells and myofibers induce presynaptic differentiation in motor axon terminals. More recent experiments indicate that Schwann cells, which cap axon terminals, also play an active role in the formation and maintenance of the neuromuscular junction. Here, we review recent advances in the identification of molecules mediating such inductive interactions and the mechanisms by which they produce their effects. Although our discussion concerns events at developing neuromuscular junctions, it seems likely that similar molecules and mechanisms may act at neuron–neuron synapses in the peripheral as well as the central nervous system. BioEssays 20:819–829, 1998. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ISSN:0265-9247
1521-1878
DOI:10.1002/(SICI)1521-1878(199810)20:10<819::AID-BIES7>3.0.CO;2-N