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To gain insight into the way that P2[X.sub.2] receptors localized at synapses might function, we explored tile properties of outside-out patches containing many of these channels as ATP was very rapidly applied and removed. Using a new method to calibrate the speed of exchange of solution over intact patches, we were able to reliably produce applications of ATP lasting

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2005.09.041 Byline: Emile G. Bruneau (a), Peter C. Macpherson (b), Daniel Goldman (b), Richard I. Hume (a), Mohammed Akaaboune (a) Keywords: C2C12; Myotube; Laminin; Agrin; Receptor turnover; Receptor insertion; Receptor removal; Receptor half-life Abstract: Using optical imaging assays, we investigated the dynamics of acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) at laminin-associated clusters on cultured myotubes in the absence or presence of the nerve-derived clustering factor, agrin. Using fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) on fluorescent bungarotoxin-labeled receptors, we found that [approximately equal to]9% of original fluorescence was recovered after 8 h as surface AChRs were recruited into clusters. By quantifying the loss of labeled receptors and the recovery of fluorescence after photobleaching, we estimated that the half-life of clustered receptors was [approximately equal to]4.5 h. Despite the rapid removal of receptors, the accumulation of new receptors at clusters was robust enough to maintain receptor density over time. We also found that the AChR half-life was not affected by agrin despite its role in inducing the aggregation of AChRs. Interestingly, when agrin was added to myotubes grown on laminin-coated substrates, most new receptors were not directed into preexisting laminin-induced clusters but instead formed numerous small aggregates on the entire muscle surface. Time-lapse imaging revealed that the agrin-induced clusters could be seen as early as 1 h, and agrin treatment resulted in the complete dissipation of laminin-associated clusters by 24 h. These results reveal that while laminin and agrin are involved in the clustering of receptors they are not critical to the regulation of receptor metabolic stability at these clusters, and further argue that agrin is able to rapidly and fully negate the laminin substrate clustering effect while inducing the rapid formation of new clusters. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, 830 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA (b) Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA Article History: Received 18 May 2005; Revised 11 August 2005; Accepted 27 September 2005

Skeletal muscles in developing chick embryos were tested for responsiveness to adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP), a substance known to depolarize chick skeletal muscle in culture. The sensitivity to extracellular ATP was tested at various stages of development in five different muscles; pectoralis superficia, anterior latissimus dorsi, posterior latissimus dorsi, sartorious, and gastrocnemius. At the earliest time that muscles were tested (Embryonic Day 6, stage 30 of Hamburger and Hamilton, 1951) application of ATP (50-100, [mu]M) elicited vigorous contractions in all five muscles, but within a few days (Embryonic Day 17, stage 43) none of the muscles contracted in response to ATP. Sensitivity declined at approximately the same time in all five of these muscles. Intracellular recordings made from muscle fibers near the time of hatching Embryonic Days 18-21 or Postnatal Days 1-2) indicated that the loss of the ability to contracted in response to ATP was due to the total loss of responsiveness to ATP. Surgical denervation of the anterior latissimus dorsi and posterior latissimus dorsi was performed in a series of chicks 1-2 days after hatching, and the ability of these muscles to contract in response to ATP was tested 3-10 days after the surgery. Contractions in response to ATP were present in many of the muscles. Thus denervation of muscles in newly hatched chicks led to the reappearance of sensitivity to ATP. The disappearance of ATP responsiveness shortly after muscles become innervated and the reappearance of ATP responsiveness following denervation suggest that the expression of ATP responsiveness is regulated by motor neurons.

Neuropeptides are important for regulating numerous neural functions and behaviors. Release of neuropeptides requires longlasting, high levels of cytosolic Ca2+. However, the molecular regulation of neuropeptide release remains to be clarified. Recently, Stac3 was identified as a key regulator of L-type Ca2+ channels (CaChs) and excitation-contraction coupling in vertebrate skeletal muscles. There is a small family of stac genes in vertebrates with other members expressed by subsets of neurons in the central nervous system. The function of neural Stac proteins, however, is poorly understood. Drosophila melanogaster contain a single stac gene, Dstac, which is expressed by muscles and a subset of neurons, including neuropeptide-expressing motor neurons. Here, genetic manipulations, coupled with immunolabeling, Ca2+ imaging, electrophysiology, and behavioral analysis, revealed that Dstac regulates L-type CaChs (Dmca1D) in Drosophila motor neurons and this, in turn, controls the release of neuropeptides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LRRC8 family proteins on the plasma membrane play a critical role in cellular osmoregulation by forming volume-regulated anion channels (VRACs) necessary to prevent necrotic cell death. We demonstrate that intracellular LRRC8 proteins acting within lysosomes also play an essential role in cellular osmoregulation. LRRC8 proteins on lysosome membranes generate large lysosomal volume-regulated anion channel (Lyso-VRAC) currents in response to low cytoplasmic ionic strength conditions. When a double-leucine L706L707 motif at the C terminus of LRRC8A was mutated to alanines, normal plasma membrane VRAC currents were still observed, but Lyso-VRAC currents were absent. We used this targeting mutant, as well as pharmacological tools, to demonstrate that Lyso-VRAC currents are necessary for the formation of large lysosome-derived vacuoles, which store and then expel excess water to maintain cytosolic water homeostasis. Thus, Lyso-VRACs allow lysosomes of mammalian cells to act as the cell's "bladder." When Lyso-VRAC current was selectively eliminated, the extent of necrotic cell death to sustained stress was greatly increased, not only in response to hypoosmotic stress, but also to hypoxic and hypothermic stresses. Thus Lyso-VRACs play an essential role in enabling cells to mount successful homeostatic responses to multiple stressors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degeneration of injured axons involves a self-destruction pathway whose components and mechanism are not fully understood. Here, we report a new regulator of axonal resilience. The transmembrane protein Raw is cell autonomously required for the degeneration of injured axons, dendrites, and synapses in Drosophila melanogaster. In both male and female raw hypomorphic mutant or knock-down larvae, the degeneration of injured axons, dendrites, and synapses from motoneurons and sensory neurons is strongly inhibited. This protection is insensitive to reduction in the levels of the NAD + synthesis enzyme Nmnat (nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyl transferase), but requires the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase and the transcription factors Fos and Jun (AP-1). Although these factors were previously known to function in axonal injury signaling and regeneration, Raw’s function can be genetically separated from other axonal injury responses: Raw does not modulate JNK-dependent axonal injury signaling and regenerative responses, but instead restrains a protective pathway that inhibits the degeneration of axons, dendrites, and synapses. Although protection in raw mutants requires JNK, Fos, and Jun, JNK also promotes axonal degeneration. These findings suggest the existence of multiple independent pathways that share modulation by JNK, Fos, and Jun that influence how axons respond to stress and injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]