Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 5(99), p. 3234-3239, 2002

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.052023599

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Neuronal activity-dependent membrane traffic at the neuromuscular junction

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Red circle
Preprint: archiving forbidden
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

During development and also in adulthood, synaptic connections are modulated by neuronal activity. To follow such modifications in vivo , new genetic tools are designed. The nontoxic C-terminal fragment of tetanus toxin (TTC) fused to a reporter gene such as LacZ retains the retrograde and transsynaptic transport abilities of the holotoxin itself. In this work, the hybrid protein is injected intramuscularly to analyze in vivo the mechanisms of intracellular and transneuronal traffics at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). Traffic on both sides of the synapse are strongly dependent on presynaptic neural cell activity. In muscle, a directional membrane traffic concentrates β-galactosidase-TTC hybrid protein into the NMJ postsynaptic side. In neurons, the probe is sorted across the cell to dendrites and subsequently to an interconnected neuron. Such fusion protein, sensitive to presynaptic neuronal activity, would be extremely useful to analyze morphological changes and plasticity at the NMJ.