Activity-sensitive signaling by muscle-derived insulin-like growth factors in the developing and regenerating neuromuscular system.

In the nervous system, activity-sensitive retrograde signaling pathways couple the status of postsynaptic activation to elimination of collaterals during development and collateral sprouting in the adult. This article presents evidence supporting the hypothesis that in the neuromuscular system, skeletal muscle fiber derived insulin-like growth factors play a central role in such signaling. This evidence includes (1) timing and activity-sensitive expression of IGFs in skeletal muscle fibers, (2) identification of an IGF- and activity-sensitive retrograde signaling pathway from developing muscle to motoneurons in the spinal cord, (3) demonstration that IGFs in the muscle are both sufficient and necessary to induce interstitial cell proliferation and intramuscular nerve sprouting in adult muscle.