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Keywords: Wesley J. Thompson; neuromuscular junction (NMJ); synapse elimination; schwann cell; activity-dependent synaptic plasticity; nestin; neuregulin1; muscle fiber development EN Wesley J. Thompson neuromuscular junction (NMJ) synapse elimination schwann cell activity-dependent synaptic plasticity nestin neuregulin1 muscle fiber development 1 8 8 06/16/20 20200612 NES 200612 Wesley Jay (Wes) Thompson, known for his seminal contributions to the studies of neuromuscular synapses and glial cells, passed away on March 26, 2019, at the age of 71. Wes observed alterations to neither the number of motor units (the functional readout of the number of innervating motor neuron) nor the number of muscle fibers within a target muscle during the postnatal period of synapse elimination (Balice-Gordon and Thompson, [5]). Wes's findings showed that each motor neuron reduced the number of muscle fibers it innervated as a consequence of synapse elimination, ruling out a change in motor neuron or muscle fiber number as factors in this process. Wes's demonstrations of the profound influence neuromuscular activity pattern has on muscle fiber contractile properties, in addition to the timing of neuromuscular synapse elimination (Thompson, [42]), raised an obvious question: What is the extent of muscle fiber autonomy in fiber type differentiation?. [Extracted from the article] |
