Nerve-Muscle Interactions in the Developing Muscle Spindle
{'Code': '08090200', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'IOS', 'LongName': 'Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Steven C. McLoon'}
How individual muscle fibers become specialized to perform              different functions is a major subject of developmental neuroscience.           The muscle spindle, a receptor found throughout skeletal muscle to              detect the degree of muscle contraction, is a unique structure because          it receives both sensory and motor innervation.                                                                                                                         Dr. Kucera will conduct the first formal inquiry into the               developmental sequence whereby the spindle acquires its sensory and             motor nerve connections.  Neural and muscular features of spindles in           the soleus muscle will be compared by light and electron microscopy             between developing and adult rats.  In a complementary study, these             features of developing spindles will be compared between normal                 controls and experimentally deafferented animals.  These comparisons            will be used to: (a) determine the temporal sequence of the                     development of sensory and motor innervation to spindles, (b)                   establish whether transient, immature patterns of innervation proceed           the emergence of the adult pattern of neural connections of spindles,           (c) determine whether the motor innervation can direct the                      differentiation of spindles in the absence of sensory innervation, and          (d) explore whether coated organelles could mediate the ontogenetic             effects of sensory axons of spindle structure.                                                                                                                          Dr. Kucera is a recognized expert in the morphological study of         muuscle spindles.  These studies are the first rigorous attempt to              address the basic questions of developmental neurobiology of the                muscle spindle organ.  The results of these experiments will provide            new and important information about the process of muscle fiber                 specialization.
{'FirstName': 'Jan', 'LastName': 'Kucera', 'EmailAddress': 'jfkucera@bu.edu', 'StartDate': '08/01/1987', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'Trustees of Boston University', 'CityName': 'BOSTON', 'ZipCode': '022151300', 'PhoneNumber': '6173534365', 'StreetAddress': '881 COMMONWEALTH AVE', 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Massachusetts', 'StateCode': 'MA'}
{'Code': '1190', 'Text': 'DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROSCIENCE'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1987&All=true', 'xml': '8707483.xml'}