Ten-m3 influence on the structural maturation of the mouse neuromuscular junction

Abstract

The neuromuscular junction is a key synapse involved in motor control and coordination. Many important proteins at the level of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) have been described to have key roles in the regulation of synaptic maintenance. Ten-m3 is a known protein that localises at the central nervous system and has been shown to play important regulatory roles in neuronal circuitry mapping. Recently, Ten-m3 has been implicated to possess roles at the neuromuscular junction in Drosophila. An overview of literature relevant to neuromuscular synapse structure and Teneurin protein function is provided in Chapter One. Whilst Chapter Two provides a basic overview of the methods used in neuromuscular synapse quantitation. Chapter Three is a journal article publication, published in the Journal of Visualised Experiments (2014) where a detailed overview of the methods used in quantitation of neuromuscular synapse parameters is described. It describes the process of refining the dissection, freezing, cryosectioning, staining and confocal imaging protocols involved in endplate parameter quantitation. The methods are subsequently used heavily in Chapter Four to quantitate the effect of Ten-m3 at the level of the NMJ in the mammalian mouse model. Ten-m3 was found to play a developmental role at the mammalian neuromuscular synapse. Ten-m3 KO animals showed a delayed progression of post-natal body weight gain. At the NMJ KO animals showed evidence of a decreased percentage of perforated endplates, indicative of an immature structural endplate morphology. Chapter Five provides concluding remarks and makes suggestions for further studies that can build on my current work. This work provides the first evidence that Ten-m3 plays a role in structural reorganisation of NMJs in the mammalian mouse model.