Myasthenia gravis is a paralytic disorder with autoantibodies against acetylcholine receptors at the neuromuscular junction. A proportion of patients instead has antibodies against muscle-specific kinase, a protein essential for acetylcholine receptor clustering. These are generally of the immunoglobulin-G4 subclass and correlate with disease severity, suggesting specific myasthenogenic activit...

Diagnosis of neuromuscular disease by the study of motor endplate structure in the light and electron microscopes is probably one of the most specialized examinations in the field of neuropathology. The classical means of staining endplates using gold, silver or methylene blue are described as well as more modern techniques suitable for light microscopy. Specific abnormalities in patterns of te...

The localized transcription of several muscle genes at the motor endplate is controlled by the Ets transcription factor GABP. To evaluate directly its contribution to the formation of the neuromuscular junction, we generated transgenic mice expressing a general Ets dominant-negative mutant specifically in skeletal muscle. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that the expression of genes co...

Neuromuscular junction assembly and plasticity during embryonic, postnatal, and adult life are tightly regulated by the continuous cross-talk among motor nerve endings, muscle fibers, and glial cells. Altered communications among these components is thought to be responsible for the physiological age-related changes at this synapse and possibly for its destruction in pathological states. Neurom...

The Drosophila neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is an established model system used for the study of synaptic development and plasticity. The widespread use of the Drosophila motor system is due to its high accessibility. It can be analyzed with single-cell resolution. There are 30 muscles per hemisegment whose arrangement within the peripheral body wall are known. A total of 31 motor neurons attac...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune neurologic disease that affects the postsynaptic portion of the neuromuscular junction. It represents a challenge for anesthesiologists due to the diversity of disease manifestations and possibility of postoperative respiratory complications. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the importance of adequate monitoring of ...

Development of the neuromuscular junction on differentiating muscle was investigated in the regenerating limb of the newt Triturus. Motor end-plate formation begins when vesicle-filled axon terminations approach differentiating muscle cells that have reached the stage of a multinucleate cell containing myofibrils. Slight ridges or elevations occur on the muscle surface, and there is an increase...

A number of illnesses and other factors can affect the function of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). These may have an affect at pre- or post-junctional sites. This review outlines the anatomy and the physiology of the NMJ. It also describes the mechanisms and physiological basis of many of the disorders of the NMJ. Finally, the importance of these disorders in anaesthetic practice is discussed.

Synaptic facilitation (SF) is a ubiquitous form of short-term plasticity, regulating synaptic dynamics on fast timescales. Although SF is known to depend on the presynaptic accumulation of Ca(2+), its precise mechanism is still under debate. Recently it has been shown that at certain central synapses SF results at least in part from the progressive saturation of an endogenous Ca(2+) buffer (Bla...