Balice-Gordon R J, Chua C K, Nelson C C, Lichtman J W
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110.
Neuron. 1993 Nov;11(5):801-15. doi: 10.1016/0896-6273(93)90110-d.
We have studied the spatial deployment of synapses arising from different axons that converge on the same developing neuromuscular junctions. Labeling the competing synaptic "cartels" with different dyes in mouse muscle showed that, perinatally, each axon adds similar terminal areas, whereas later, areas occupied by the competing cartels diverged by gradual elimination of one axon's synapses and ongoing addition of synaptic area by the other. Activity-dependent labeling of synapses capable of vesicle recycling in snake muscle also revealed a gradual change in territories occupied by competing inputs, implying that an axon maintained some functional synapses even as others in its cartel were being eliminated. Thus the process of synapse elimination is gradual, with loss of one viable synapse after another, until an axon is left with no synaptic territory and withdraws.
我们研究了汇聚于同一发育中的神经肌肉接头的不同轴突所产生的突触的空间分布。用不同染料标记小鼠肌肉中相互竞争的突触“集团”表明，在围产期，每个轴突增加的终末区域相似，而在后期，相互竞争的集团所占据的区域通过逐渐消除一个轴突的突触以及另一个轴突持续增加突触区域而出现差异。对蛇肌中能够进行囊泡循环的突触进行活动依赖性标记也揭示了相互竞争的输入所占据区域的逐渐变化，这意味着即使一个轴突集团中的其他突触正在被消除，该轴突仍维持着一些功能性突触。因此，突触消除过程是渐进的，一个又一个存活的突触丧失，直到一个轴突没有突触区域并退缩。
