Cranial motor neuron input specificity refined by activity

Abstract

A recent study by Kaneko and colleagues provides evidence that developing cranial motor neurons in larval zebrafish refine their input specificity over time, using an activity-dependent mechanism that may depend, in part, on adaptive dendrite extension. These findings illuminate the mechanism by which spatially overlapping motor pools are recruited into distinct motor circuits.

Keywords: brainstem; dendrite extension; motor circuit; synapse; vagus nerve; zebrafish.