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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Morphological and Functional Evaluation of Axons and their Synapses during Axon Death in Drosophila melanogaster
Published on: March 16, 2020
Pruning an axon piece by piece: a new mode of synapse elimination
1Division of Neuroscience, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Abstract:
The process by which excess axons are pruned during development has remained unclear. In this issue of Neuron, Bishop et al. use time-lapse imaging and serial electron microscopy of developing neuromuscular junctions to describe a novel cellular mechanism in which retracting axon branches shed fragments rich in normal synaptic organelles. These "axosomes" are engulfed by adjacent Schwann cells and may be assimilated into the glial cytoplasm. Shedding of axosomes and glial engulfment may represent a widespread mechanism of synapse elimination.
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