Publications by authors named "Matthew J Sternfeld"
The rich functional diversity of the nervous system is founded in the specific connectivity of the underlying neural circuitry. Neurons are often preprogrammed to respond to multiple axon guidance signals because they use sequential guideposts along their pathways, but this necessitates a strict spatiotemporal regulation of intracellular signaling to ensure the cues are detected in the correct order. We performed a mouse mutagenesis screen and identified the Rho GTPase antagonist p190RhoGAP as a critical regulator of motor axon guidance.
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- Flexible neural networks can adapt their activity to produce various motor behaviors, with both excitatory and inhibitory spinal neurons playing crucial roles.
- The study created synthetic neural networks, called circuitoids, using mouse stem cell-derived spinal neuron subtypes, which could mimic natural rhythmic activities.
- Inhibitory V1 neurons added complexity by enhancing excitatory neuron rhythmicity and organizing motor neuron activity, suggesting that controlling the ratio of excitatory to inhibitory neurons could influence motor behaviors.
Dysfunction of microRNA (miRNA) metabolism is thought to underlie diseases affecting motoneurons. One miRNA, miR-218, is abundantly and selectively expressed by developing and mature motoneurons. Here we show that mutant mice lacking miR-218 die neonatally and exhibit neuromuscular junction defects, motoneuron hyperexcitability, and progressive motoneuron cell loss, all of which are hallmarks of motoneuron diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy.
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