The genetic analysis of larval neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) of Drosophila has provided detailed insights into molecular mechanisms that control the morphological and physiological development of these glutamatergic synapses. However, because of the chronic defects caused by mutations, a time-resolved analysis of these mechanisms and their functional relationships has been difficult so far. In...

Introduction:yasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disorder resulting from a decreased number of active acetylcholine receptors at the neuromuscular junction. Thymectomy is one of its current treatments. Due to sensitivity of myasthenic patients to non-depolarizing muscle relaxants and also the interaction of this medication with anti-cholinestrase drugs, determining the dosage of non-depolarizing ...

Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) caused by antibodies that attack components of the postsynaptic membrane, impair neuromuscular transmission, and lead to weakness and fatigue of skeletal muscle. This can be generalised or localised to certain muscle groups, and involvement of the bulbar and respiratory muscles can be life threatening. The pathogenes...

OBJECTIVE To study the effect of Yiqi Huayu Recipe on neurons in neuromuscular junction after L5 nerve root compression in rats. METHODS By using immunohistochemistry, confocal laser scanning techniques and protein gene product 9.5 as a neuronal marker, the motor endplates were visualized with fluorescein-conjugated alpha-BTX. The effect of Yiqi Huayu Recipe on nerve terminals of neuromuscula...

In the past decade, a significant number of proteins involved in the developmental assembly and maturation of synapses have been identified. However, detailed knowledge of the molecular processes underlying developmental synapse assembly is still sparse. We have developed an approach that makes extended in vivo imaging of selected proteins in live Drosophila larvae feasible at a single-synapse ...

Studies of the neural control of locomotion have tended to focus on the modulation of motoneuron firing by premotor neurons; new work indicates that the regulation of synaptic transmission at the neuromuscular junction can also be important, revealing an inverse relationship between input resistance and synaptic output in motoneurons.

The ability to form synapses is one of the fundamental properties required by the mammalian nervous system to generate network connectivity. Structural and functional diversity among synaptic populations is a key hallmark of network diversity, and yet we know comparatively little about the morphological principles that govern variability in the size, shape and strength of synapses. Using the mo...

The neuromuscular junction is a classic model synapse that has proved to be a rich source of scientific discovery for many decades. Accessibility made this synapse a favorite for researchers in the early days of electrophysiology. Zebrafish neuromuscular junction retains this key feature, but is also an optimal system for modern day molecular biology, genetics, and optical techniques. Moreover,...

Cellular prion protein (PrP(c)), the normal isoform of the pathogenic peptide (PrP(sc)) responsible of the transmissible spongiform encephalopaties (TSEs), is present in many neural tissues, including neuromuscular junctions (NMJ). To analyze if this protein could influence the synaptic transmission, we performed an electrophysiological approach to study the effect of cellular prion protein on ...