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Published on: February 6, 2009
Roles for ephrins in positionally selective synaptogenesis between motor neurons and muscle fibers
G Feng1, M B Laskowski, D A Feldheim
1Department of Anatomy, Washington University Medical School, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
Abstract:
Motor axons form topographic maps on muscles: rostral motor pools innervate rostral muscles, and rostral portions of motor pools innervate rostral fibers within their targets. Here, we implicate A subfamily ephrins in this topographic mapping. First, developing muscles express all five of the ephrin-A genes. Second, rostrally and caudally derived motor axons differ in sensitivity to outgrowth inhibition by ephrin-A5. Third, the topographic map of motor axons on the gluteus muscle is degraded in transgenic mice that overexpress ephrin-A5 in muscles. Fourth, topographic mapping is impaired in muscles of mutant mice lacking ephrin-A2 plus ephrin-A5. Thus, ephrins mediate or modulate positionally selective synapse formation. In addition, the rostrocaudal position of at least one motor pool is altered in ephrin-A5 mutant mice, indicating that ephrins affect nerve-muscle matching by intraspinal as well as intramuscular mechanisms.
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