期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:1977
卷号:74
期号:11
页码:4977-4981
DOI:10.1073/pnas.74.11.4977
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Neurons dissociated from chick embryo retina form synapses with cultured rat striated muscle cells in 35-90 min when neurite extension is uncoupled from later steps in synapse formation. The results suggest that a reaction is required for synapse formation after neurons adhere to muscle cells. All synapses between retina neurons and muscle cells are terminated in 3-10 days depending on the developmental age of the neurons. The half-lives of synapses between muscle cells and retina neurons from 8-, 12-, or 13-day embryos are 36, 26, and 5 hr and mean synapse life-times are 53, 37, and 7.1 hr, respectively. The results show that synapses turn over and that the rate of turnover increases during development. The results suggest that both synapse formation and termination rates are regulated and that the specificity of synaptic connections can be increased by selective termination of synapses.