Mechanistic distinctions between agrin and laminin-1 induced aggregation of acetylcholine receptors
Background
One of the earliest steps in synaptogenesis at the neuromuscular junction is the aggregation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors at the postsynaptic membrane. This study presents quantitative analyses of receptor and α-Dystroglycan aggregation in response to agrin and laminin-1, alone or in combination.
Results
Both laminin and agrin increased overall expression of receptors on the plasma membrane. Following a 24 hour exposure, agrin increased the number of receptor aggregates but did not affect the number of α-Dystroglycan aggregates, while the reverse was true of laminin-1. Laminin also increased receptor concentration within aggregates, while agrin had no such effect. Finally, the spatial distribution of aggregates was indistinguishable from random in the case of laminin, while agrin induced aggregates were closer together than predicted by a random model.
Conclusions
Agrin and laminin-1 both increase acetylcholine receptor aggregate size after 24 hours, but several lines of evidence indicate that this is achieved via different mechanisms. Agrin and laminin had different effects on the number and density of receptor and α-Dystroglycan aggregates. Moreover the random distribution of laminin induced (as opposed to agrin induced) receptor aggregates suggests that the former may influence aggregate size by simple mass action effects due to increased receptor expression.
Complete Metadata
| @type | dcat:Dataset |
|---|---|
| accessLevel | public |
| bureauCode |
[
"009:25"
]
|
| contactPoint |
{
"fn": "NIH",
"@type": "vcard:Contact",
"hasEmail": "mailto:info@nih.gov"
}
|
| description | Background One of the earliest steps in synaptogenesis at the neuromuscular junction is the aggregation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors at the postsynaptic membrane. This study presents quantitative analyses of receptor and α-Dystroglycan aggregation in response to agrin and laminin-1, alone or in combination. Results Both laminin and agrin increased overall expression of receptors on the plasma membrane. Following a 24 hour exposure, agrin increased the number of receptor aggregates but did not affect the number of α-Dystroglycan aggregates, while the reverse was true of laminin-1. Laminin also increased receptor concentration within aggregates, while agrin had no such effect. Finally, the spatial distribution of aggregates was indistinguishable from random in the case of laminin, while agrin induced aggregates were closer together than predicted by a random model. Conclusions Agrin and laminin-1 both increase acetylcholine receptor aggregate size after 24 hours, but several lines of evidence indicate that this is achieved via different mechanisms. Agrin and laminin had different effects on the number and density of receptor and α-Dystroglycan aggregates. Moreover the random distribution of laminin induced (as opposed to agrin induced) receptor aggregates suggests that the former may influence aggregate size by simple mass action effects due to increased receptor expression. |
| distribution |
[
{
"@type": "dcat:Distribution",
"title": "Official Government Data Source",
"mediaType": "text/html",
"description": "Visit the original government dataset for complete information, documentation, and data access.",
"downloadURL": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC126261/"
}
]
|
| identifier | https://healthdata.gov/api/views/5hsx-tugq |
| issued | 2025-07-14 |
| keyword |
[
"acetylcholine-receptors",
"agrin-laminin-interactions",
"neuromuscular-junction",
"nih",
"synaptogenesis"
]
|
| landingPage | https://healthdata.gov/d/5hsx-tugq |
| modified | 2025-09-06 |
| programCode |
[
"009:048"
]
|
| publisher |
{
"name": "National Institutes of Health",
"@type": "org:Organization"
}
|
| theme |
[
"NIH"
]
|
| title | Mechanistic distinctions between agrin and laminin-1 induced aggregation of acetylcholine receptors |
