Terminal Schwann cell and vacant site mediated synapse elimination at developing neuromuscular junctions.

ABSTRACT: Synapses undergo transition from polyinnervation by multiple axons to single innervation a few weeks after birth. Synaptic activity of axons and interaxonal competition are thought to drive this developmental synapse elimination and tested as key parameters in quantitative models for further understanding. Recent studies of muscle synapses (endplates) show that there are also terminal Schwann cells (tSCs), glial cells associated with motor neurons and their functions, and vacant sites (or vacancies) devoid of tSCs and axons proposing tSCs as key effectors of synapse elimination. However, there is no quantitative model that considers roles of tSCs including vacancies. Here we develop a stochastic model of tSC and vacancy mediated synapse elimination. It employs their areas on individual end

SUBMITTER: Jung JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6901572 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature