Abstract
Two zebrafish motoneurons, CaP and VaP, are initially developmentally equivalent; later, CaP innervates ventral muscle, whereas VaP dies. Current models suggest that vertebrate motoneuron death results from failure to compete for limited, target-derived trophic support. In contrast, we provide evidence that zebrafish ventral muscle can support both CaP and VaP survival. However, VaP's growth cone is prevented from extending into ventral muscle by CaP-dependent interactions with identified muscle fibers, the muscle pioneers; this interaction breaks the initial equivalence of CaP and VaP. Thus, the processes mediating VaP death are more complex than failure to compete for trophic support, and may be important for correct spatial patterning.
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Acknowledgements
Special thanks to B. Eisen. We thank M. Westerfield, C. Kimmel and D. Armstrong for discussions and comments on the manuscript and the University of Oregon Zebrafish Facility staff for animal husbandry. Supported by NIH NS23915 and HD22486. Renovation and expansion of the University of Oregon Zebrafish Facility supported by NIH RR11724, NSF 9602828, the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and the W.M. Keck Foundation.
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Eisen, J., Melançon, E. Interactions with identified muscle cells break motoneuron equivalence in embryonic zebrafish. Nat Neurosci 4, 1065–1070 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn742
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn742
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