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Activity‐dependent plastic changes in the motor nerve terminals of the adult rat
Author(s) -
Tomas Josep,
Batlle Jordi,
Fenoll Maria Rosa,
Santafé Manel,
Lanuza Maria Angel
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
biology of the cell
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.543
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1768-322X
pISSN - 0248-4900
DOI - 10.1111/j.1768-322x.1993.tb00903.x
Subject(s) - biology , motor nerve , neuroscience , anatomy , microbiology and biotechnology
Summary— Small and short‐lasting physiologic variations in the locomotor activity of normal adult rats can induce remodelling in the motor nerve endings of the fast extensor digitorum longus muscle. The specificity and relative importance of the different plastic adaptations occurring in the presynaptic axonal tree have been studied, in silver impregnated nerve endings, by using an automatic image analysis treatment of the nerve terminals' geometric properties and a discriminant analysis of the morphometric parameters. Changes observed, like selective length variations in certain terminal segments and positional rearrangements, agree with a mechanism of neural connectivity regulation in the adult that arises as a consequence of normal neuromuscular activity.