A team from Anatomy@Edinburgh and the Euan MacDonald Centre, led by Ross Jones and Tom Gillingwater, have published a paper in the journal Brain Communications revealing insights into how nerve and muscle interact in humans, at sites known as neuromuscular junctions (NMJs). Image In the new study, first authors Abrar Alhindi and Ines Boehm (working alongside colleagues from Surgery), used human muscle biopsy samples to label and visualise an important 'supporting' cell at the NMJ, known as the terminal Schwann cell. These cells play a key role in maintaining the health of the NMJ and are thought to contribute to diseases such as MND, but the vast majority of our knowledge of these cells comes from studies of rodent models (e.g. mice). The new research shows that human terminal Schwann cells have a unique anatomy and arrangement, that makes them fundamentally different to what has previously been reported in mice and other species. These insights will be important for translating findings from rodent models into humans, and also for the proper interpretation of future studies examining terminal Schwann cells in human patients. Related links The paper is freely available to download. Paper: Terminal Schwann Cells at the Human Neuromuscular Junction. Publication date 20 Apr, 2021
