ARIA can be released from extracellular matrix through cleavage of a heparin-binding domain

Surgical denervation increases protein tyrosine phosphatase activity in skeletal muscle

Protein tyrosine phosphorylation, which plays an important role in synapse formation at the neuromuscular junction, appears to be regulated by presynaptic neurons. Innervation increases whereas denervation decreases the phosphotyrosine content at the neuromuscular junction. The innervation-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation may result from elevated activity of protein tyrosine kinases; alternatively innervation may down-regulate the protein tyrosine phosphatase activity in the skeletal muscle. To investigate the possible neuronal control of protein tyrosine phosphatase activity at the neuromuscular junction, we have characterized protein tyrosine phosphatase activity in rat skeletal muscle and studied the effects of surgical denervation on the phosphatase activity. Protein tyrosine phosphatase activity in the skeletal muscle, assayed using src [32P]-phosphorylated myelin basic protein as a substrate, was both time- and protein concentration-dependent and was inhibited by micromolar concentrations of vanadate and zinc ion, both of which are known to inhibit tyrosine phosphatases specifically. It was not affected, however, by chemicals known to inhibit acid and alkaline phosphatases or serine/threonine phosphatases. Surgical denervation caused an increase in protein tyrosine phosphatase activity in rat hindlimb muscles. The increase in phosphatase activity reached a maximum (2-fold above the normal) 4 days post-denervation and maintained a plateau for up to 24 days. The biochemical properties of the phosphatase activity in denervated muscle were similar to those of the phosphatase activity in the innervated muscles. These results demonstrate that protein tyrosine phosphatase activity in skeletal muscle is regulated by motoneurons.

Agrin, laminin beta 2 (s-laminin) and ARIA: their role in neuromuscular development

Development of pre- and postsynaptic specializations at the vertebrate neuromuscular junction is affected by molecules concentrated in the extracellular matrix of the synaptic cleft. Agrin, laminin beta 2 and ARIA are the best characterized proteins known to be involved in particular aspects of synaptic differentiation. Recent advances in defining the domains of these molecules that are crucial for their synapse-organizing activity and their localization to synaptic basal lamina will help our understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in synapse formation.

ARIA is concentrated in the synaptic basal lamina of the developing chick neuromuscular junction

ARIA is a member of a family of polypeptide growth and differentiation factors that also includes glial growth factor (GGF), neu differentiation factor, and heregulin. ARIA mRNA is expressed in all cholinergic neurons of the central nervous systems of rats and chicks, including spinal cord motor neurons. In vitro, ARIA elevates the rate of acetylcholine receptor incorporation into the plasma membrane of primary cultures of chick myotubes. To study whether ARIA may regulate the synthesis of junctional synaptic acetylcholine receptors in chick embryos, we have developed riboprobes and polyclonal antibody reagents that recognize isoforms of ARIA that include an amino-terminal immunoglobulin C2 domain and examined the expression and distribution of ARIA in motor neurons and at the neuromuscular junction. We detected significant ARIA mRNA expression in motor neurons as early as embryonic day 5, around the time that motor axons are making initial synaptic contacts with their target muscle cells. In older embryos and postnatal animals, we found ARIA protein concentrated in the synaptic cleft at neuromuscular junctions, consistent with transport down motor axons and release at nerve terminals. At high resolution using immunoelectron microscopy, we detected ARIA immunoreactivity exclusively in the synaptic basal lamina in a pattern consistent with binding to synapse specific components on the presynaptic side of the basal lamina. These results support a role for ARIA as a trophic factor released by motor neuron terminals that may regulate the formation of mature neuromuscular synapses.