The neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is structured and powered to transduce electrical activity from the distal nerve terminal of a motor neurone via the neuromuscular cleft to the post-junctional muscle membrane to ultimately generate muscle contraction. Our understanding of this complex function has expanded over many years, and the NMJ has served as a prototype for how different synapses operate...

Signaling in the nervous system requires matching of neurotransmitter receptors with cognate neurotransmitters at synapses. The vertebrate neuromuscular junction is the best studied cholinergic synapse, but the mechanisms by which acetylcholine is matched with acetylcholine receptors are not fully understood. Because alterations in neuronal calcium spike activity alter transmitter specification...

Altered function of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the brain has recently been associated with an idiopathic form of partial epilepsy, suggesting that functional alterations of these receptors can be involved in the processes leading to epileptic seizures. Thus, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors may form a novel target for antiepileptic drug development. In the present study, var...

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are pentameric ligand-gated ion channels, which are involved in a wide range of neuronal functions. During the past decade, a large number of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits have been cloned and showed a discreet yet overlapping distribution pattern. Recently, several groups have produced mutant mice lacking specific nicotinic acetylcholine receptor s...

In the CNS, receptor recycling is critical for synaptic plasticity; however, the recycling of receptors has never been observed at peripheral synapses. Using a novel imaging technique, we show here that nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) recycle into the postsynaptic membrane of the neuromuscular junction. By sequentially labeling AChRs with biotin-bungarotoxin and streptavidin-fluoropho...

More than 1 billion people around the world smoke, with 10 million cigarettes sold every minute. Cigarettes contain thousands of harmful chemicals including the psychoactive compound, nicotine. Nicotine addiction is initiated by the binding of nicotine to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, ligand-gated cation channels activated by the endogenous neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. These receptors ...

The neuromuscular junction is a specialized synapse in that every action potential in the presynaptic nerve terminal results in an action potential in the postsynaptic membrane, unlike most interneuronal synapses where a single presynaptic input makes only a small contribution to the population postsynaptic response. The postsynaptic membrane at the neuromuscular junction contains a high densit...

Myasthenia gravis is an uncommon autoimmune disease resulting in destruction of the postsynaptic nicotinic receptors at the neuromuscular junction. We describe a 43-yr-old, 95 kg patient who presented for elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. She was given vecuronium 10 mg to facilitate tracheal intubation. At the end of the procedure the patient could not maintain adequate spontaneous ventila...