Autonomic motor neuron migration and expression of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate reduced diaphorase are dependent upon peripheral target.

Interactions of developing neurons with their postsynaptic targets play a significant role in neuronal differentiation. The goal of the present study was to determine if target contact affected the migration or differentiation of autonomic motor neurons (AMNs) in developing rat spinal cord. The peripheral targets of AMNs were excised microsurgically from histotypic spinal slices before the arrival of AMN axons. The migration of AMNs was assessed in DiI retrogradely labeled preparations, and the differentiation of these cells was evaluated by beta-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate reduced diaphorase (NADPH-d) histochemistry. In target-deprived specimens, NADPH-d expression in AMNs was virtually eliminated. In addition, DiI-labeled AMNs were scattered throughout the intermediate spinal gray matter instead of being aggregated in the intermediolateral nucleus as in control slices. This observation indicated that migration of AMNs had occurred, but that it had been disorganized significantly by target removal on embryonic day 13 (E13). In sham, "incision-only" specimens from which peripheral target tissue was not removed, AMNs expressed NADPH-d and migrated normally, indicating that axotomy alone was not sufficient to disrupt AMN development. Previous studies have shown that target removal after the arrival of AMN axons at their postsynaptic targets on E14 has no affect on the organized migration of AMNs (Barber et al. [1993] J. Neurosci. 13:4898-4907). This observation together with the present results indicate that initial target contact is necessary for both the differentiation and directed migration of AMNs, and that this contact does not need to be sustained for these developmental events to progress normally.