1. Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Stability at the NMJ Deficient in α-SyntrophinIn Vivo
- Author
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Chakib Mouslim, Isabel Martinez-Pena y Valenzuela, Stanley C. Froehner, Marvin E. Adams, Marcelo Pires-Oliveira, and Mohammed Akaaboune
- Subjects
Male ,Scaffold protein ,Green Fluorescent Proteins ,Neuromuscular Junction ,Muscle Proteins ,Receptors, Nicotinic ,Biology ,Article ,Neuromuscular junction ,Mice ,Postsynaptic potential ,medicine ,Animals ,Myocyte ,RNA, Messenger ,Receptor ,Acetylcholine receptor ,Syntrophin ,Mice, Knockout ,Microscopy, Confocal ,General Neuroscience ,Calcium-Binding Proteins ,Neuropeptides ,Age Factors ,Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental ,Membrane Proteins ,Bungarotoxins ,Cell biology ,Protein Transport ,Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor ,Electroporation ,Hydrazines ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Animals, Newborn ,nervous system ,Female - Abstract
α-Syntrophin (α-syn), a scaffold protein, links signaling molecules to the dystrophin–glycoprotein complex. Absence of α-syn from the DGC is known to lead to structurally aberrant neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) with few acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) clustered at synaptic sites. Using α-syn knock-out mice, we show that during the first postnatal week, α-syn is not required for synapse formation. However, at postnatal day 6 (P6)–P7, the structural integrity of the postsynaptic apparatus is altered, the turnover rate of AChRs increases significantly, and the number/density of AChRs is impaired. At the adult α-syn−/−NMJ, the turnover rate of AChRs is ∼4 times faster than wild-type synapses, and most removed receptors are targeted to degradation as few AChRs recycled to synaptic sites. Biochemical analyses show that in muscle cells of adult knock-out α-syn mice, total AChRs and scaffold protein rapsyn are significantly reduced, the 89 kDa and 75 kDa isoforms of tyrosine phosphorylated α-dystrobrevin (α-dbn) 1 (which are required for the maintenance and stability of AChR in α-dbn−/−synapses) are barely detectable. Electroporation of GFP-α-dbn1 in α-syn−/−muscle cells partially restored receptor density, turnover rate, and the structural integrity of the postsynaptic apparatus, whereas expression of rapsyn-GFP failed to rescue the α-syn−/−synaptic phenotype. These results demonstrate that α-syn is required for the maturation and stability of the postsynaptic apparatus and suggest that α-syn may act via α-dbn1.
- Published
- 2011