Positional Strategies for Connection Specificity and Synaptic Organization in Spinal Sensory-Motor Circuits.

ABSTRACT: Proprioceptive sensory axons in the spinal cord form selective connections with motor neuron partners, but the strategies that confer such selectivity remain uncertain. We show that muscle-specific sensory axons project to motor neurons along topographically organized angular trajectories and that motor pools exhibit diverse dendritic arbors. On the basis of spatial constraints on axo-dendritic interactions, we propose positional strategies that can account for sensory-motor connectivity and synaptic organization. These strategies rely on two patterning principles. First, the degree of axo-dendritic overlap reduces the number of potential post-synaptic partners. Second, a close correlation between the small angle of axo-dendritic approach and the formation of synaptic clusters imposes spec

SUBMITTER: Balaskas N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7085297 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature