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Functional regeneration of the murine neuromuscular synapse relies on long-lasting morphological adaptations.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In a broad variety of species, muscle contraction is controlled at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), the peripheral synapse composed of a motor nerve terminal, a muscle specialization, and non-myelinating terminal Schwann cells. While peripheral nerve damage leads to successful NMJ reinnervation in animal models, muscle fiber reinnervation in human patients is largely inefficient. Interestingly, some hallmarks of NMJ denervation and early reinnervation in murine species, such as fragmentation and poly-innervation, are also phenotypes of aged NMJs or even of unaltered conditions in other species, including humans. We have reasoned that rather than features of NMJ decline, such cellular responses could represent synaptic adaptations to accomplish proper functional recovery. Here, we have experimentally tackled this idea through a detailed comparative study of the short- and long-term consequences of irreversible (chronic) and reversible (partial) NMJ denervation in the convenient cranial levator auris longus muscle.

Results

Our findings reveal that irreversible muscle denervation results in highly fragmented postsynaptic domains and marked ectopic acetylcholine receptor clustering along with significant terminal Schwann cells sprouting and progressive detachment from the NMJ. Remarkably, even though reversible nerve damage led to complete reinnervation after 11 days, we found that more than 30% of NMJs are poly-innervated and around 65% of postsynaptic domains are fragmented even 3 months after injury, whereas synaptic transmission is fully recovered two months after nerve injury. While postsynaptic stability was irreversibly decreased after chronic denervation, this parameter was only transiently affected by partial NMJ denervation. In addition, we found that a combination of morphometric analyses and postsynaptic stability determinations allows discriminating two distinct forms of NMJ fragmentation, stable-smooth and unstable-blurred, which correlate with their regeneration potential.

Conclusions

Together, our data unveil that reversible nerve damage imprints a long-lasting reminiscence in the NMJ that results in the rearrangement of its cellular components. Instead of being predictive of NMJ decline, these traits may represent an efficient adaptive response for proper functional recovery. As such, these features are relevant targets to be considered in strategies aimed to restore motor function in detrimental conditions for peripheral innervation.

SUBMITTER: Bermedo-Garcia F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9270767 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:UnlabelledAt birth, each mammalian skeletal muscle fiber is innervated by multiple motor neurons, but in a few weeks, all but one of those axons retracts (Redfern, 1970) and differential activity between inputs controls this phenomenon (Personius and Balice-Gordon, 2001; Sanes and Lichtman, 2001; Personius et al., 2007; Favero et al., 2012). Acetylcholine, the primary neuromuscular transmitter, has long been presumed to mediate this activity-dependent process (O'Brien et al., 1978), but glutamatergic transmission also occurs at the neuromuscular junction (Berger et al., 1995; Grozdanovic and Gossrau, 1998; Mays et al., 2009). To test the role of neuromuscular NMDA receptors, we assessed their contribution to muscle calcium fluxes in mice and tested whether they influence removal of excess innervation at the end plate. Developmental synapse pruning was slowed by reduction of NMDA receptor activation or expression and by reduction of glutamate production. Conversely, pruning is accelerated by application of exogenous NMDA. We also found that NMDA induced increased muscle calcium only during the first 2 postnatal weeks. Therefore, neuromuscular NMDA receptors play previously unsuspected roles in neuromuscular activity and synaptic pruning during development.Significance statementIn normal adult muscle, each muscle fiber is innervated by a single axon, but at birth, fibers are multiply innervated. Elimination of excess connections requires neural activity; because the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is a cholinergic synapse, acetylcholine has been assumed to be the critical mediator of activity. However, glutamate receptors are also expressed at the NMJ. We found that axon removal in mice is slowed by pharmacological and molecular manipulations that decrease signaling through neuromuscular NMDA receptors, whereas application of exogenous NMDA at the NMJ accelerates synapse elimination and increases muscle calcium levels during the first 2 postnatal weeks. Therefore, neuromuscular NMDA receptors play previously unsuspected roles in neuromuscular activity and elimination of excess synaptic input during development.