Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1989 Dec;3(6):677-88.
doi: 10.1016/0896-6273(89)90236-5.

Motor nerve terminal loss from degenerating muscle fibers

M Rich  1 , J W Lichtman
Affiliations

Motor nerve terminal loss from degenerating muscle fibers

M Rich et al. Neuron. 1989 Dec.

Abstract

The fate of nerve terminals following elimination of postsynaptic target cells was studied in living mouse muscle. Several days after muscle fiber damage, observations of previously identified neuromuscular junctions showed that motor nerve terminal branches had rapidly disappeared from degenerating muscle fibers. Following muscle fiber regeneration, loss of terminal branches ceased and nerve terminals regrew, reestablishing some of the original sites and adding new branches. The distribution of acetylcholine receptors reorganized in the regenerated muscle so that perfect alignment was reestablished with the newly configured nerve terminals. These results argue that the maintenance of the full complement of nerve terminal branches at a neuromuscular junction is dependent on the presence of a healthy muscle fiber. Similarly, regenerating muscle is dependent on the nerve terminal for the organization and maintenance of postsynaptic receptors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources