The making of a proprioceptor: a tale of two identities

Trends Neurosci. 2023 Oct 17:S0166-2236(23)00226-6. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2023.09.008. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTProprioception, the sense of body position in space, has a critical role in the control of posture and movement. Aside from skin and joint receptors, the main sources of proprioceptive information in tetrapods are mechanoreceptive end organs in skeletal muscle: muscle spindles (MSs) and Golgi tendon organs (GTOs). The sensory neurons that innervate these receptors are divided into subtypes that detect discrete aspects of sensory information from muscles with different biomechanical functions. Despite the importance of proprioceptive neurons in motor control, the developmental mechanisms that control the acquisition of their distinct functional properties and positional identity are not yet clear. In this review, we discuss recent findings on the development of mouse proprioceptor subtypes and challenges in defining them at the molecular and functional level.PMID:37858440 | DOI:10.1016/j.tins.2023.09.008

Source: Trends in Neurosciences - October 20, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Joriene C de Nooij Niccol ò Zampieri Source Type: research