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Biomedical subjects

T Lomo

Publications and source records attributed to T Lomo.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Sodium channel mRNAs at the neuromuscular junction: distinct patterns of accumulation and effects of muscle activity.

Voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) are highly concentrated at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) in mammalian skeletal muscle. Here we test the hypothesis that local upregulation of mRNA contributes to this accumulation. We designed radiolabeled antisense RNA probes, specific for the "adult" Na(V)1.4 and "fetal" Na(V)1.5 isoforms of VGSC in mammalian skeletal muscle, and used them in in situ hybridization studies of rat soleus muscles. Na(V)1.4 mRNA is present throughout normal adult muscles but is highly concentrated at the NMJ, in which the amount per myonucleus is more than eightfold greater than away from the NMJ. Na(V)1.5 mRNA is undetectable in innervated muscles but is dramatically upregulated by denervation. In muscles denervated for 1 week, both Na(V)1.4 and Na(V)1.5 mRNAs are present throughout the muscle, and both are concentrated at the NMJ. No Na(V)1.5 mRNA was detectable in denervated muscles stimulated electrically for 1 week in vivo. Neither denervation nor stimulation had any significant effect on the level or distribution of Na(V)1.4 mRNA. We conclude that factors, probably derived from the nerve, lead to the increased concentration of VGSC mRNAs at the NMJ. In addition, the expression of Na(V)1.5 mRNA is downregulated by muscle activity, both at the NMJ and away from it.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Golgi complex, endoplasmic reticulum exit sites, and microtubules in skeletal muscle fibers are organized by patterned activity.

The Golgi complex of skeletal muscle fibers is made of thousands of dispersed elements. The distributions of these elements and of the microtubules they associate with differ in fast compared with slow and in innervated compared with denervated fibers. To investigate the role of muscle impulse activity, we denervated fast extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and slow soleus (SOL) muscles of adult rats and stimulated them directly with patterns that resemble the impulse patterns of normal fast EDL (25 pulses at 150 Hz every 15 min) and slow SOL (200 pulses at 20 Hz every 30 sec) motor units. After 2 weeks of denervation plus stimulation, peripheral and central regions of muscle fibers were examined by immunofluorescence microscopy with regard to density and distribution of Golgi complex, microtubules, glucose transporter GLUT4, centrosomes, and endoplasmic reticulum exit sites. In extrajunctional regions, fast pattern stimulation preserved normal fast characteristics of all markers in EDL type IIB/IIX fibers, although inducing changes toward the fast phenotype in originally slow type I SOL fibers, such as a 1.5-fold decrease of the density of Golgi elements at the fiber surface. Slow pattern stimulation had converse effects such as a 2.2-fold increase of the density of Golgi elements at the EDL fiber surface. In junctional regions, where fast and slow fibers are similar, both stimulation patterns prevented a denervation-induced accumulation of GLUT4. The results indicate that patterns of muscle impulse activity, as normally imposed by motor neurons, play a major role in regulating the organization of Golgi complex and related proteins in the extrajunctional region of muscle fibers.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Ras is involved in nerve-activity-dependent regulation of muscle genes.

Gene expression in skeletal muscle is regulated by the firing pattern of motor neurons, but the signalling systems involved in excitation-transcription coupling are unknown. Here, using in vivo transfection in regenerating muscle, we show that constitutively active Ras and a Ras mutant that selectively activates the MAPK(ERK) pathway are able to mimic the effects of slow motor neurons on expression of myosin genes. Conversely, the effect of slow motor neurons is inhibited by a dominant-negative Ras mutant. MAPK(ERK) activity is increased by innervation and by low-frequency electrical stimulation. These results indicate that Ras-MAPK signalling is involved in promoting nerve-activity-dependent differentiation of slow muscle fibres in vivo.

Amino Acid Substitution↗
PubMed1975

The interaction between foreign and original motor nerves innervating the soleus muscle of rats.

1. The fibular nerve was transplanted on to the soleus muscle of the rats. Interruption of the original soleus nerve then permitted cross-innervation, and subsequently, over a period of weeks, re-innervation by the original nerve. 2. Individual muscle fibres were often innervated by both the original and the foreign nerve. The original and foreign end-plates were located in separate regions of the muscle. There were no indications that the original nerve could displace or repress the foreign innervation. 3. The extent of re-innervation by the original nerve depended upon the method of denervation. A single crush of the nerve was followed by virtually complete re-innervation, even of muscle fibres already innervated by the foreign nerve. When re-innervation was delayed by resection of a segment of the nerve only muscle fibres without foreign nerve innervation were re-innervated. Denervation by a simple nerve cut gave an intermediate result. 4. Re-innervation by the original nerve can take place without measurable extrajunctional sensitivity to ACh. 5. The original end-plate region could retain high and localized sensitivity to ACh for several months despite degeneration of its motor nerve terminal and activity of the muscle fibre. 6. Established foreign end-plates were re-innervated by the foreign nerve on muscle fibres with intact original innervation. 7. The factors controlling synapse formation in skeletal muscles are discussed.

Acetylcholine↗
PubMed1975

Further studies on the control of ACh sensitivity by muscle activity in the rat.

1. Denervated rat soleus muscles were stimulated directly through chronically implanted electrodes and the influence of different amounts and patterns of stimuli on the acetylcholine (ACh) sensitivity of the muscle was studied. The number of stimuli was varied by giving similar trains of stimuli (10 Hz for 10 sec) at different intervals (0 to 12 hr). The pattern of stimulation was varied by giving different trains of stimuli (100 Hz for 1 sec, 10 Hz for 10 sec and 1 Hz continuously) as the same average frequency of stimulation (1 Hz). 2. Stimulation usually started 5 days after the denervation when ACh hypersensitivity was fully developed. Most stimulation procedures reduced extrajunctional ACh sensitivity to normal or below normal values within 5-21 days, and these levels were maintained on prolonged stimulation. 3. The rate at which ACh hypersensitivity disappeared increased with increasing amount and frequency of stimulation. However, as few as 100 stimuli given every 5-5 hr for 3 weeks caused a tenfold reduction of sensitivity. 4. The stimulation had little or no effect on the ACh sensitivity at the end plate. Along the rest of the fibre the sensitivity was reduced at approximately the same rate except near the tendons where it appeared to fall more slowly in some fibres. 5. The stimulation restored the resting membrane potential of the denervated fibres to normal.

Acetylcholine↗
PubMed1973

Hyperinnervation of skeletal muscle fibers: dependence on muscle activity.

After the motor nerve to the rat soleus muscle was blocked reversibly by local anesthesia, individual muscle fibers became innervated by a transplanted motor nerve without losing their original innervation. Such cross-innervation of the denervated soleus muscle by the same foreign nerve was largely reduced by direct electrical stimulation of the muscle. The results demonstrate the importance of muscle activity for synapse formation by a foreign motor nerve.

Animals↗
PubMed1973

Long-lasting potentiation of synaptic transmission in the dentate area of the anaesthetized rabbit following stimulation of the perforant path.

1. The after-effects of repetitive stimulation of the perforant path fibres to the dentate area of the hippocampal formation have been examined with extracellular micro-electrodes in rabbits anaesthetized with urethane.2. In fifteen out of eighteen rabbits the population response recorded from granule cells in the dentate area to single perforant path volleys was potentiated for periods ranging from 30 min to 10 hr after one or more conditioning trains at 10-20/sec for 10-15 sec, or 100/sec for 3-4 sec.3. The population response was analysed in terms of three parameters: the amplitude of the population excitatory post-synaptic potential (e.p.s.p.), signalling the depolarization of the granule cells, and the amplitude and latency of the population spike, signalling the discharge of the granule cells.4. All three parameters were potentiated in 29% of the experiments; in other experiments in which long term changes occurred, potentiation was confined to one or two of the three parameters. A reduction in the latency of the population spike was the commonest sign of potentiation, occurring in 57% of all experiments. The amplitude of the population e.p.s.p. was increased in 43%, and of the population spike in 40%, of all experiments.5. During conditioning at 10-20/sec there was massive potentiation of the population spike (;frequency potentiation'). The spike was suppressed during stimulation at 100/sec. Both frequencies produced long-term potentiation.6. The results suggest that two independent mechanisms are responsible for long-lasting potentiation: (a) an increase in the efficiency of synaptic transmission at the perforant path synapses; (b) an increase in the excitability of the granule cell population.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed1972

Control of ACh sensitivity by muscle activity in the rat.

1. Rat soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles were examined following complete blockade of sciatic nerve impulses with anaesthetics or diphtheria toxin for periods up to 14 days.2. Muscles showed atrophy equivalent to that seen after similar periods of denervation.3. Nerve blockade appeared to have little or no effect on neuromuscular transmission when tested by stimulation beyond the block. Normal spontaneous miniature end-plate potentials were present.4. Nerve impulse blockade caused the entire muscle membrane to become sensitive to iontophoretically applied acetylcholine.5. The increase in sensitivity in soleus could be prevented by chronic nerve stimulation distal to the region of block.6. Tenotomy, of 5-12 days duration, which produced atrophy, had no effect on the sensitivity of soleus to acetylcholine.7. Chronic direct stimulation of denervated soleus or EDL muscles could prevent the usual denervation supersensitivity, or cause it to decline towards normal once it had appeared. However, the sensitivity of the end-plate region remained normal.

Acetylcholine↗