scholarly journals Nerve-independent formation of a topologically complex postsynaptic apparatus

2004 ◽  
Vol 164 (7) ◽  
pp. 1077-1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terrance T. Kummer ◽  
Thomas Misgeld ◽  
Jeff W. Lichtman ◽  
Joshua R. Sanes

As the mammalian neuromuscular junction matures, its acetylcholine receptor (AChR)–rich postsynaptic apparatus is transformed from an oval plaque into a pretzel-shaped array of branches that precisely mirrors the branching pattern of the motor nerve terminal. Although the nerve has been believed to direct postsynaptic maturation, we report here that myotubes cultured aneurally on matrix-coated substrates form elaborately branched AChR-rich domains remarkably similar to those seen in vivo. These domains share several characteristics with the mature postsynaptic apparatus, including colocalization of multiple postsynaptic markers, clustering of subjacent myonuclei, and dependence on the muscle-specific kinase and rapsyn for their formation. Time-lapse imaging showed that branched structures arise from plaques by formation and fusion of AChR-poor perforations through a series of steps mirroring that seen in vivo. Multiple fluorophore imaging showed that growth occurs by circumferential, asymmetric addition of AChRs. Analysis in vivo revealed similar patterns of AChR addition during normal development. These results reveal the sequence of steps by which a topologically complex domain forms on a cell and suggest an unexpected nerve-independent role for the postsynaptic cell in generating this topological complexity.

Author(s):  
Raul I. Garcia ◽  
Evelyn A. Flynn ◽  
George Szabo

Skin pigmentation in mammals involves the interaction of epidermal melanocytes and keratinocytes in the structural and functional unit known as the Epidermal Melanin Unit. Melanocytes(M) synthesize melanin within specialized membrane-bound organelles, the melanosome or pigment granule. These are subsequently transferred by way of M dendrites to keratinocytes(K) by a mechanism still to be clearly defined. Three different, though not necessarily mutually exclusive, mechanisms of melanosome transfer have been proposed: cytophagocytosis by K of M dendrite tips containing melanosomes, direct injection of melanosomes into the K cytoplasm through a cell-to-cell pore or communicating channel formed by localized fusion of M and K cell membranes, release of melanosomes into the extracellular space(ECS) by exocytosis followed by K uptake using conventional phagocytosis. Variability in methods of transfer has been noted both in vivo and in vitro and there is evidence in support of each transfer mechanism. We Have previously studied M-K interactions in vitro using time-lapse cinemicrography and in vivo at the ultrastructural level using lanthanum tracer and freeze-fracture.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigehiro Hashimoto ◽  
Hiroki Yonezawa

Abstract A cell deforms and migrates on the scaffold under mechanical stimuli in vivo. In this study, a cell with division during shear stress stimulation has been observed in vitro. Before and after division, both migration and deformation of each cell were analyzed. To make a Couette-type shear flow, the medium was sandwiched between parallel disks (the lower stationary culture-disc and the upper rotating disk) with a constant gap. The wall shear stress (1.5 Pa < τ < 2 Pa) on the surface of the lower culture plate was controlled by the rotational speed of the upper disc. Myoblasts (C2C12: mouse myoblast cell line) were used in the test. After cultivation without flow for 24 hours for adhesion of the cells to the lower disk, constant τ was applied to the cells in the incubator for 7 days. The behavior of each cell during shear was tracked by time-lapse images observed by an inverted phase contrast microscope placed in the incubator. Experimental results show that each cell tends to divide after higher activities: deformation and migration. The tendency is remarkable at the shear stress of 1.5 Pa.


2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-279
Author(s):  
Shigeaki Kanatani ◽  
Hidenori Tabata ◽  
Kazunori Nakajima

Cortical formation in the developing brain is a highly complicated process involving neuronal production (through symmetric or asymmetric cell division) interaction of radial glia with neuronal migration, and multiple modes of neuronal migration. It has been convincingly demonstrated by numerous studies that radial glial cells are neural stem cells. However, the processes by which neurons arise from radial glia and migrate to their final destinations in vivo are not yet fully understood. Recent studies using time-lapse imaging of neuronal migration are giving investigators an increasingly more detailed understanding of the mitotic behavior of radial glia and the migrating behavior of their daughter cells. In this review, we describe recent progress in elucidating neuronal migration in brain formation and how neuronal migration is disturbed by mutations in genes that control this process. ( J Child Neurol 2005;20:274—279).


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather N. Nelson ◽  
Anthony J. Treichel ◽  
Erin N. Eggum ◽  
Madeline R. Martell ◽  
Amanda J. Kaiser ◽  
...  

Abstract Background In the developing central nervous system, pre-myelinating oligodendrocytes sample candidate nerve axons by extending and retracting process extensions. Some contacts stabilize, leading to the initiation of axon wrapping, nascent myelin sheath formation, concentric wrapping and sheath elongation, and sheath stabilization or pruning by oligodendrocytes. Although axonal signals influence the overall process of myelination, the precise oligodendrocyte behaviors that require signaling from axons are not completely understood. In this study, we investigated whether oligodendrocyte behaviors during the early events of myelination are mediated by an oligodendrocyte-intrinsic myelination program or are over-ridden by axonal factors. Methods To address this, we utilized in vivo time-lapse imaging in embryonic and larval zebrafish spinal cord during the initial hours and days of axon wrapping and myelination. Transgenic reporter lines marked individual axon subtypes or oligodendrocyte membranes. Results In the larval zebrafish spinal cord, individual axon subtypes supported distinct nascent sheath growth rates and stabilization frequencies. Oligodendrocytes ensheathed individual axon subtypes at different rates during a two-day period after initial axon wrapping. When descending reticulospinal axons were ablated, local spinal axons supported a constant ensheathment rate despite the increased ratio of oligodendrocytes to target axons. Conclusion We conclude that properties of individual axon subtypes instruct oligodendrocyte behaviors during initial stages of myelination by differentially controlling nascent sheath growth and stabilization.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 (9) ◽  
pp. pdb.top077156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward S. Ruthazer ◽  
Anne Schohl ◽  
Neil Schwartz ◽  
Aydin Tavakoli ◽  
Marc Tremblay ◽  
...  

2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (15) ◽  
pp. 7114-7121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Nargi-Aizenman ◽  
Diane E. Griffin

ABSTRACT Virus infection of neurons leads to different outcomes ranging from latent and noncytolytic infection to cell death. Viruses kill neurons directly by inducing either apoptosis or necrosis or indirectly as a result of the host immune response. Sindbis virus (SV) is an alphavirus that induces apoptotic cell death both in vitro and in vivo. However, apoptotic changes are not always evident in neurons induced to die by alphavirus infection. Time lapse imaging revealed that SV-infected primary cortical neurons exhibited both apoptotic and necrotic morphological features and that uninfected neurons in the cultures also died. Antagonists of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) subtype of glutamate receptors protected neurons from SV-induced death without affecting virus replication or SV-induced apoptotic cell death. These results provide evidence that SV infection activates neurotoxic pathways that result in aberrant NMDA receptor stimulation and damage to infected and uninfected neurons.


Author(s):  
Martina Sonego ◽  
Ya Zhou ◽  
Madeleine Julie Oudin ◽  
Patrick Doherty ◽  
Giovanna Lalli

Mitochondrion ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 32-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Gonzalez ◽  
Ruani Fernando ◽  
Jade Berthelot ◽  
Claire Perrin-Tricaud ◽  
Emmanuelle Sarzi ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 111 (1) ◽  
pp. 208-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoko Nishiyama ◽  
Jeremy Colonna ◽  
Elise Shen ◽  
Jennifer Carrillo ◽  
Hiroshi Nishiyama

Synapses are continuously formed and eliminated throughout life in the mammalian brain, and emerging evidence suggests that this structural plasticity underlies experience-dependent changes of brain functions such as learning and long-term memory formation. However, it is generally difficult to understand how the rewiring of synaptic circuitry observed in vivo eventually relates to changes in animal's behavior. This is because afferent/efferent connections and local synaptic circuitries are very complicated in most brain regions, hence it is largely unclear how sensorimotor information is conveyed, integrated, and processed through a brain region that is imaged. The cerebellar cortex provides a particularly useful model to challenge this problem because of its simple and well-defined synaptic circuitry. However, owing to the technical difficulty of chronic in vivo imaging in the cerebellum, it remains unclear how cerebellar neurons dynamically change their structures over a long period of time. Here, we showed that the commonly used method for neocortical in vivo imaging was not ideal for long-term imaging of cerebellar neurons, but simple optimization of the procedure significantly improved the success rate and the maximum time window of chronic imaging. The optimized method can be used in both neonatal and adult mice and allows time-lapse imaging of cerebellar neurons for more than 5 mo in ∼80% of animals. This method allows vital observation of dynamic cellular processes such as developmental refinement of synaptic circuitry as well as long-term changes of neuronal structures in adult cerebellum under longitudinal behavioral manipulations.


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