Properties of Glial Cell at the Neuromuscular Junction Are Incompatible with Synaptic Repair in the ALS Mouse Model.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease affecting motoneurons (MNs) in a motor-unit (MU)-dependent manner. Glial dysfunction contributes to numerous aspects of the disease. At the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), early alterations in perisynaptic Schwann cell (PSC), glial cells at this synapse, may impact their ability to regulate NMJ stability and repair. Indeed, muscarinic receptors (mAChRs) regulate the repair phenotype of PSCs and are overactivated at disease-resistant NMJs [soleus muscle (SOL)] in mice. However, it remains unknown whether this is the case at disease-vulnerable NMJs and whether it translates into an impairment of PSC-dependent repair mechanisms. We used SOL and sternomastoid (STM) muscles from mice and performed Ca-imaging to monitor PSC activity and used immunohistochemistry to analyze their repair and phagocytic properties. We show that PSC mAChR-dependent activity was transiently increased at disease-vulnerable NMJs (STM muscle). Furthermore, PSCs from both muscles extended disorganized processes from denervated NMJs and failed to initiate or guide nerve terminal sprouts at disease-vulnerable NMJs, a phenomenon essential for compensatory reinnervation. This was accompanied by a failure of numerous PSCs to upregulate galectin-3 (MAC-2), a marker of glial axonal debris phagocytosis, on NMJ denervation in mice. Finally, differences in these PSC-dependent NMJ repair mechanisms were MU type dependent, thus reflecting MU vulnerability in ALS. Together, these results reveal that neuron-glia communication is ubiquitously altered at the NMJ in ALS. This appears to prevent PSCs from adopting a repair phenotype, resulting in a maladapted response to denervation at the NMJ in ALS. Understanding how the complex interplay between neurons and glial cells ultimately lead to the degeneration of motor neurons and loss of motor function is a fundamental question to comprehend amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). An early and persistent alteration of glial cell activity takes place at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), the output of motor neurons, but its impact on NMJ repair remains unknown. Here, we reveal that glial cells at disease-vulnerable NMJs often fail to guide compensatory nerve terminal sprouts and to adopt a phagocytic phenotype on denervated NMJs in mice. These results show that glial cells at the NMJ elaborate an inappropriate response to NMJ degeneration in a manner that reflects motor-unit (MU) vulnerability and potentially impairs compensatory reinnervation.