P. Devay et al., Target-specific control of nicotinic receptor expression at developing interneuronal synapses in chick, NAT NEUROSC, 2(6), 1999, pp. 528-534
Neuronal differentiation and development of synaptic specializations are st
rongly influenced by cellular interactions. We compared the effects of inte
raction with distinct autonomic targets on the molecular and biophysical di
fferentiation of 'upstream' neuron-neuron synapses. Contact with cardiac ti
ssue induced expression of nicotinic receptor channels (nAChRs) distinct fr
om those induced by renal tissue in presynaptic autonomic neurons. The kine
tics of cholinergic currents at interneuronal synapses are dictated by the
peripheral target contacted. Analysis of the nAChR channel subtypes and sub
units in individual neurons demonstrated that the profile of transmitter re
ceptors expressed at mature neuron-neuron synapses develops from the conver
gent influences of input-derived (anterograde) and target-specific (retrogr
ade) signals.