scholarly journals Aggregates of acetylcholine receptors are associated with plaques of a basal lamina heparan sulfate proteoglycan on the surface of skeletal muscle fibers.

1983 ◽  
Vol 97 (5) ◽  
pp. 1396-1411 ◽  
Author(s):  
M J Anderson ◽  
D M Fambrough

Hybridoma techniques have been used to generate monoclonal antibodies to an antigen concentrated in the basal lamina at the Xenopus laevis neuromuscular junction. The antibodies selectively precipitate a high molecular weight heparan sulfate proteoglycan from conditioned medium of muscle cultures grown in the presence of [35S]methionine or [35S]sulfate. Electron microscope autoradiography of adult X. laevis muscle fibers exposed to 125I-labeled antibody confirms that the antigen is localized within the basal lamina of skeletal muscle fibers and is concentrated at least fivefold within the specialized basal lamina at the neuromuscular junction. Fluorescence immunocytochemical experiments suggest that a similar proteoglycan is also present in other basement membranes, including those associated with blood vessels, myelinated axons, nerve sheath, and notochord. During development in culture, the surface of embryonic muscle cells displays a conspicuously non-uniform distribution of this basal lamina proteoglycan, consisting of large areas with a low antigen site-density and a variety of discrete plaques and fibrils. Clusters of acetylcholine receptors that form on muscle cells cultured without nerve are invariably associated with adjacent, congruent plaques containing basal lamina proteoglycan. This is also true for clusters of junctional receptors formed during synaptogenesis in vitro. This correlation indicates that the spatial organization of receptor and proteoglycan is coordinately regulated, and suggests that interactions between these two species may contribute to the localization of acetylcholine receptors at the neuromuscular junction.

1995 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 467-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Itsuro Higuchi ◽  
Hidetoshi Fukunaga ◽  
Kiichiro Matsumura ◽  
Masaru Inose ◽  
Kotaro Izumi ◽  
...  

1985 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 735-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Anglister ◽  
U J McMahan

In skeletal muscles that have been damaged in ways which spare the basal lamina sheaths of the muscle fibers, new myofibers develop within the sheaths and neuromuscular junctions form at the original synaptic sites on them. At the regenerated neuromuscular junctions, as at the original ones, the muscle fibers are characterized by junctional folds and accumulations of acetylcholine receptors and acetylcholinesterase (AChE). The formation of junctional folds and the accumulation of acetylcholine receptors is known to be directed by components of the synaptic portion of the myofiber basal lamina. The aim of this study was to determine whether or not the synaptic basal lamina contains molecules that direct the accumulation of AChE. We crushed frog muscles in a way that caused disintegration and phagocytosis of all cells at the neuromuscular junction, and at the same time, we irreversibly blocked AChE activity. New muscle fibers were allowed to regenerate within the basal lamina sheaths of the original muscle fibers but reinnervation of the muscles was deliberately prevented. We then stained for AChE activity and searched the surface of the new muscle fibers for deposits of enzyme they had produced. Despite the absence of innervation, AChE preferentially accumulated at points where the plasma membrane of the new muscle fibers was apposed to the regions of the basal lamina that had occupied the synaptic cleft at the neuromuscular junctions. We therefore conclude that molecules stably attached to the synaptic portion of myofiber basal lamina direct the accumulation of AChE at the original synaptic sites in regenerating muscle. Additional studies revealed that the AChE was solubilized by collagenase and that it remained adherent to basal lamina sheaths after degeneration of the new myofibers, indicating that it had become incorporated into the basal lamina, as at normal neuromuscular junctions.


1983 ◽  
Vol 97 (4) ◽  
pp. 957-962 ◽  
Author(s):  
A K Gulati ◽  
A H Reddi ◽  
A A Zalewski

The basement membrane of skeletal muscle fibers is believed to persist unchanged during myofiber degeneration and act as a tubular structure within which the regeneration of new myofibers occurs. In the present study we describe macromolecular changes in the basement membrane zone during muscle degeneration and regeneration, as monitored by immunofluorescence using specific antibodies against types IV and V collagen, laminin, and heparan sulfate proteoglycan and by the binding of concanavalin A (Con A). Skeletal muscle regeneration was induced by autotransplantation of the extensor digitorum longus muscle in rats. After this procedure, the myofibers degenerate; this is followed by myosatellite cell activation, proliferation, and fusion, resulting in the formation of new myotubes that mature into myofibers. In normal muscle, the distribution of types IV and V collagen, laminin, heparan sulfate proteoglycan, and Con A binding was seen in the pericellular basement membrane region. In autotransplanted muscle, the various components of the basement membrane zone disappeared, leaving behind some unidentifiable component that still bound Con A. Around the regenerated myotubes a new basement membrane (zone) reappeared, which persisted during maturation of the regenerating muscle. The distribution of various basement membrane components in the regenerated myofibers was similar to that seen in the normal muscle. Based on our present and previous study (Gulati, A.K., A.H. Reddi, and A.A. Zalewski, 1982, Anat. Rec. 204:175-183), it appears that some of the original basement membrane zone components disappear during myofiber degeneration and initial regeneration. As a new basement membrane develops, its components reappear and persist in the mature myofibers. We conclude that skeletal muscle fiber basement membrane (zone) is not a static structure as previously thought, but rather that its components change quite rapidly during myofiber degeneration and regeneration.


1997 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Wakayama ◽  
Makoto Murahashi ◽  
Takahiro Jimi ◽  
Hiroko Kojima ◽  
Seiji Shibuya ◽  
...  

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