Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 24, 2025

Visualizing the Morphological Characteristics of Neuromuscular Junction in Rat Medial Gastrocnemius Muscle
Published on: May 17, 2022
Perisynaptic Schwann Cells: Guardians of Neuromuscular Junction Integrity and Function in Health and Disease
Thomas W Gould1, Chien-Ping Ko2, Hugh Willison3
1Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA.
Abstract:
The neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is a highly reliable synapse to carry the control of the motor commands of the nervous system over the muscles. Its development, organization, and synaptic properties are highly structured and regulated to support such reliability and efficacy. Yet, the NMJ is also highly plastic, able to react to injury, and able to adapt to changes. This balance between structural stability and synaptic efficacy on one hand and structural plasticity and repair on another hand is made possible by perisynaptic Schwann cells (PSCs), glial cells at this synapse. They regulate synaptic efficacy and structural plasticity of the NMJ in a dynamic, bidirectional manner owing to their ability to decode synaptic transmission and by their interactions with trophic-related factors. Alteration of these fundamental roles of PSCs is also important in the maladapted response of NMJs in various diseases and in aging.
More Related Videos
08:41Dissection of Single Skeletal Muscle Fibers for Immunofluorescent and Morphometric Analyses of Whole-Mount Neuromuscular Junctions
Published on: August 14, 2021
06:01The Fibular Nerve Injury Method: A Reliable Assay to Identify and Test Factors That Repair Neuromuscular Junctions
Published on: August 11, 2016
Related Concept Videos
Glial Cells
The Neuromuscular Junction
Nervous Tissue: Myelin
Schwann cells begin to form myelin sheaths around axons during fetal development. They wrap around a small...
Neurogenesis and Regeneration of Nervous Tissue
Nervous Tissue: Glial Cells
The CNS glial cell includes the astrocytes, the oligodendrocytes, the microglia, and the ependymal cells.
Astrocytes are star-shaped glial...
Chemical Synapses
Because chemical synapses depend on the release of neurotransmitter molecules from synaptic vesicles to pass on their signal, there is an approximately one millisecond delay between when the axon potential reaches the presynaptic terminal and when the neurotransmitter leads to opening of postsynaptic ion channels. Additionally, this signaling is...