Anatomical experiments are proposed to study developmental processes which serve to establish, refine and stabilize the initial innervation pattern of the chick wing. The results of these experiments will provide additional basic information about the cellular mechanisms involved in establishing and maintaining connections between neurons and their targets. This information may be important for understanding how development processes may be disturbed as a result of disease, injury or genetic defects. Three sets of experiments are proposed. In the first, the major emphasis will be on the period between muscle nerve formation and the post-hatching elimination of polyneuronal innervation. The general objective is to determine how projection patterns of single neurons are initially formed and subsequently modified. Preliminary experiments have shown extensive axonal branching, including some collateral having projections to two different nerves. Experiments to determine what neuron types form two- nerve collaterals, and the mechanism of their subsequent loss are proposed. In other experiments, the pre-terminal branching patterns of individual motor axons will also be characterized to determine the spatial extent of single fiber projections, and to determine when the preterminal branching pattern becomes fixed. The methods involve labeling specific neuronal populations with different dyes and the reconstructing projection patterns using light microscopy. These experiments should provide information about the refinement of initial projection patterns, and about the processes involved in the establishment of the fine-grained topographic projections of motoneurons onto muscles. Another set of proposed experiments is to study the ability of a neurotrophic factor to prevent motoneuron death in chick embryos having one muscleless wing. The treatment regimens needed to rescue target deprived motoneurons will be determined. A related study will determine whether cell death is permanently blocked by factor administration, or whether cell death is delayed. A possible relationship between axon branching and neuron survival will be studied by characterizing the pre-terminal branching patterns in muscleless and factor-treated muscleless limbs. The third set of experiments will explore the role of Schwann cells in limb innervation. Chick/quail chimeras will be used to specific ally label neural crest-derived Schwann cells along the peripheral nerve pathways. The distribution of Schwann cells along the peripheral nerves, will be studied at different developmental stages in an attempt to confirm our previous finding that Schwann cells cluster at muscle nerve branching points early during peripheral nerve formation. Experiments to determine whether peripheral nerve formation is delayed or prevented in the absence of Schwann cells are also proposed.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01NS025340-06
Application #
2265524
Study Section
Neurology B Subcommittee 2 (NEUB)
Project Start
1987-02-01
Project End
1994-11-30
Budget Start
1992-04-13
Budget End
1994-11-30
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
1992
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Bryn Mawr College
Department
Biology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
City
Bryn Mawr
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
19010
Hollyday, M (1995) Chick wing innervation. I. Time course of innervation and early differentiation of the peripheral nerve pattern. J Comp Neurol 357:242-53
Hollyday, M; Morgan-Carr, M (1995) Chick wing innervation. II. Morphology of motor and sensory axons and their growth cones during early development. J Comp Neurol 357:254-71
Ferns, M J; Hollyday, M (1995) Chick wing innervation. III. Formation of axon collaterals in developing peripheral nerves. J Comp Neurol 357:272-80
Gutman, C R; Ajmera, M K; Hollyday, M (1993) Organization of motor pools supplying axial muscles in the chicken. Brain Res 609:129-36
Ferns, M J; Hollyday, M (1993) Motor innervation of dorsoventrally reversed wings in chick/quail chimeric embryos. J Neurosci 13:2463-76
Carpenter, E M; Hollyday, M (1992) The location and distribution of neural crest-derived Schwann cells in developing peripheral nerves in the chick forelimb. Dev Biol 150:144-59
Carpenter, E M; Hollyday, M (1992) The distribution of neural crest-derived Schwann cells from subsets of brachial spinal segments into the peripheral nerves innervating the chick forelimb. Dev Biol 150:160-70
Phelan, K A; Hollyday, M (1991) Embryonic development and survival of brachial motoneurons projecting to muscleless chick wings. J Comp Neurol 311:313-20
Prasad, A; Hollyday, M (1991) Development and migration of avian sympathetic preganglionic neurons. J Comp Neurol 307:237-58
Hollyday, M (1990) Specificity of initial axonal projections to embryonic chick wing. J Comp Neurol 302:589-602

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