Name: measuring neuromuscular junction functionality
Uploaded: 2017-08-06T13:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Measuring Neuromuscular Junction Functionality at JoVE.com

Work in the authors' laboratory was supported by Fondazione Roma and Telethon (grant no. GGP14066).

All the animal experiments were approved by the ethics committee of Sapienza University of Rome-Unit of Histology and Medical Embryology and were performed in accordance with the current version of the Italian Law on the Protection of Animals.
1. Experimental set-up
<ol>
	<li>Set-up the experimental system composed of 1 actuator/transducer, 2 stimulators, 1 in-vitro muscle apparatus, 1 preparatory tissue bath, 1 suction electrode, 1 digital oscilloscope, 1 stereomicroscope, 1 cold l...

<ol>
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The experimental protocol described above provides an ideal way of measuring and discriminating any functional alterations that have occurred directly in the muscle or indirectly at the neuromuscular junction level. Since this technique is based on an indirect measurement of NMJ functionality, it cannot be used to establish if any defect is related to morphological changes or to biochemical changes. By contrast, it does provide an effective way of determining whether any morphological or biochemical alterations have redu...

The neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is a chemical synapse formed by the connection between the motor endplate of the muscle fiber and the motor neuron axon terminal. The NMJ has been shown to play a crucial role when communication between muscle and nerve is impaired, as occurs in aging or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). As muscle and nerve communicate in a bidirectional way1,2, being able to measure NMJ defects separately from muscle defects may provide new insights into their physiopathological interplay. Indeed, this functional evaluation may help to assess whether morphological or biochemical alterations reduce neurotransmission signaling functionality.
The comparison of muscle contractile response elicited by nerve stimulation and the response of the same muscle evoked by direct stimulation of its membrane has been proposed as an indirect measurement of NMJ functionality. Indeed, since membrane stimulation by-passes neurotransmission signaling, any differences in the two contractile responses may be ascribed to changes in the NMJ. This approach has been extensively proposed for rats3,4,5,6,7, and also used to gather information on mouse models8,9,10,11,12.
Here, we describe in detail a procedure to excise and test two muscle-nerve preparations, i. e. the soleus-sciatic and diaphragm-phrenic preparations. Using a custom-made software, we designed a continuous testing protocol that combines the measurement of several parameters that characterize both NMJ and muscle functionality, thereby yielding a comprehensive evaluation of NMJ damage separately from that of muscle. In particular, the protocol measures the twitch force, the muscle kinetics, the force-frequency curve for direct and nerve stimulations, the neurotransmission failure13 for both a firing and the tetanic frequencies, and the intratetanic fatigue7.

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measuring neuromuscular junction functionality

Neuromuscular junction (NMJ) functionality plays a pivotal role when studying diseases in which the communication between motor neuron and muscle is impaired, such as aging and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Here we describe an experimental protocol that can be used to measure NMJ functionality by combining two types of electrical stimulation: direct muscle membrane stimulation and the stimulation through the nerve. The comparison of the muscle response to these two different stimulations can help to define, at the functional level, potential alterations in the NMJ that lead to functional decline in muscle.
Ex vivo preparations are suited to well-controlled studies. Here we describe an intensive protocol to measure several parameters of muscle and NMJ functionality for the soleus-sciatic nerve preparation and for the diaphragm-phrenic nerve preparation. The protocol lasts approximately 60 min and is conducted uninterruptedly by means of a custom-made software that measures the twitch kinetics properties, the force-frequency relationship for both muscle and nerve stimulations, and two parameters specific to NMJ functionality, i.e. neurotransmission failure and intratetanic fatigue. This methodology was used to detect damages in soleus and diaphragm muscle-nerve preparations by using SOD1G93A transgenic mouse, an experimental model of ALS that ubiquitously overexpresses the mutant antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1).

The protocol we described provides information on functional denervation in several neuromuscular diseases or aging-sarcopenia. This protocol can be used to determine whether (and, if so, at which level) muscle alterations are due to selective changes that occur in the muscle itself or in neuromuscular transmission. The data shown below are the results of a previous work by our group18, conducted on the SOD1G93A transgenic mouse model of amyotrophic late...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Measuring Neuromuscular Junction Functionality at JoVE.com

Measuring Neuromuscular Junction Functionality

A functional assessment of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) can provide essential information on the communication between muscle and nerve. Here we describe a protocol to comprehensively evaluate both the NMJ and muscle functionality using two different muscle-nerve preparations, i.e. soleus-sciatic and diaphragm-phrenic.

Neuromuscular junction (NMJ) functionality plays a pivotal role when studying diseases in which the communication between motor neuron and muscle is ...

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Drosophila neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is an excellent model system to study glutamatergic synaptic transmission. We describe the technique of focal ...

Preparation of the Rat Vocal Fold for Neuromuscular Analyses

The purpose of this tutorial is to describe the preparation of the rat vocal fold for histochemical neuromuscular study. This protocol outlines procedures ...