Using powerful new visualization technologies, researchers have captured the first 3-D images of the structure of a key muscle receptor, providing new insights on how muscles develop across the animal kingdom and setting the stage for possible future treatments for muscular disorders.
The connections between the nervous system and muscles develop differently across the kingdom of life. It takes newborn humans roughly a year to develop the proper muscular systems that support the ability to walk, while cows can walk mere minutes after birth and run not long after.
The ability of skeletal muscles to contract allows for our bodies to move -- from walking and jumping to breathing and blinking our eyes. All skeletal muscle contractions originate at the junction between motor neurons, which originate in the spinal cord and brainstem, and muscle fibers. It's here that neurons release a transmitter chemical called acetylcholine. These molecules bind to a protein receptor on the cells of muscles, triggering an opening in the cell membrane.
The results featured the first visualizations of the 3-D structure of the muscle acetylcholine receptor. Since human tissue is difficult to obtain for such muscle contraction studies, the researchers accessed fetal tissue samples from cow skeletal muscles. In order to isolate the receptor in the samples, the researchers turned to an unlikely source: snake venom.
The findings of the study are already being applied to investigations of muscle-based disorders, such as congenital myasthenic syndromes that result in muscle weakness. A common autoimmune disease known as myasthenia gravis involves antibodies that mistakenly attack the muscle acetylcholine receptor, causing weak skeletal muscles.
Neuropathy Stem Cells Molecular Biology Life Sciences Biology Organic Chemistry Biochemistry Sports Science
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