# overview
McMahan and his research group provide one of the cornerstones for Texas A&M's new Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building and its related teaching and research efforts. His work focuses on how the nervous system's synapses form in the embryo and function in the adult in various animal species. It relies on high-resolution imaging, chemical characterization and experimental manipulation of specific macromolecules and organelles, which altogether provide insights unobtainable via any other approach. The findings bear directly on the problems of understanding the molecular basis of human brain diseases and restoring brain function after trauma.

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1.1 Normal Biological Development And Functioning

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University of Tennessee Health Science Center - (Memphis, Tennessee, United States)

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Westminster College - (Fulton, Missouri, United States)

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Methods for generating high-resolution structural models from electron microscope tomography data.

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Extracellular matrix components involved in neuromuscular transmission and regeneration.

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Connections of Synaptic Vesicles to Active Zone Material Before and after Docking on the Presynaptic

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Synaptic organization and acetylcholine sensitivity of multiply innervated autonomic ganglion cells.

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An electron-microscopic study of a physiologically identified motoneurone in the leech C.N.S. after injection of the fluorescent dye Procion yellow.

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The shapes of sensory and motor neurones and the distribution of their synapses in ganglia of the leech: a study using intracellular injection of horseradish peroxidase.

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Globular and asymmetric acetylcholinesterase in the synaptic basal lamina of skeletal muscle.

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Basal lamina directs acetylcholinesterase accumulation at synaptic sites in regenerating muscle.

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Components of Torpedo electric organ and muscle that cause aggregation of acetylcholine receptors on cultured muscle cells.

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Optimization Method for Isodensity Surface Models Obtained with Electron Microscope Tomography Data

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Active Zone Material-Directed Orientation, Docking, and Fusion of Dense Core Vesicles Alongside Synaptic Vesicles at Neuromuscular Junctions.

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Dissection of active zones at the neuromuscular junction by EM tomography.

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Reinnervation of muscle fiber basal lamina after removal of myofibers. Differentiation of regenerating axons at original synaptic sites.

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Acetylcholine receptor-aggregating factor is similar to molecules concentrated at neuromuscular junctions.

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Identification of agrin in electric organ extracts and localization of agrin-like molecules in muscle and central nervous system.

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Reinnervation of original synaptic sites on muscle fiber basement membrane after disruption of the muscle cells.

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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Ligands for ErbB-family receptors encoded by a neuregulin-like gene.

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Visual identification of two kinds of nerve cells and their synaptic contacts in a living autonomic ganglion of the mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus).

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Motor neurons contain agrin-like molecules.

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Cholinesterase is associated with the basal lamina at the neuromuscular junction.

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Regulation of synaptic vesicle docking by different classes of macromolecules in active zone material.

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Erratum Volume9, Number 4 (1997), in Article No. CN970623: Ilana Cohen, Mendell Rimer, Terjo Lmo, and U. J. McMahan, Agrin-Induced Postsynaptic-like Apparatus in Skeletal Muscle Fibersin Vivo, pp. 237253

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Physical Changes in Macromolecules of Active Zone Material that Regulate the Docking and Fusion of Synaptic Vesicles on the Presynaptic Membrane

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Synthesis and transport of agrin-like molecules in motor neurons.

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The influence of basal lamina on the accumulation of acetylcholine receptors at synaptic sites in regenerating muscle.

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gamma-AChR/epsilon-AChR switch at agrin-induced postsynaptic-like apparatus in skeletal muscle.

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Regulation of the size and distribution of agrin-induced postsynaptic-like apparatus in adult skeletal muscle by electrical muscle activity.

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Agrin-induced postsynaptic-like apparatus in skeletal muscle fibers in vivo.

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Automatic acquisition of fiducial markers and alignment of images in tilt series for electron tomography.

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Agrin isoforms and their role in synaptogenesis.

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Precision of reinnervation of original postsynaptic sites in frog muscle after a nerve crush.

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The agrin gene codes for a family of basal lamina proteins that differ in function and distribution.

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Isolation and characterization of a cDNA that encodes an agrin homolog in the marine ray.

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Variable priming of a docked synaptic vesicle.

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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Identification of agrin, a synaptic organizing protein from Torpedo electric organ.

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The distribution of synapses on a physiologically identified motor neuron in the central nervous system of the leech. An electron microscope study after the injection of the fluorescent dye procion yellow.

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Neuregulins and erbB receptors at neuromuscular junctions and at agrin-induced postsynaptic-like apparatus in skeletal muscle.

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Visual identification of synaptic boutons on living ganglion cells and of varicosities in postganglionic axons in the heart of the frog.

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Viewing neuromuscular junctions in live, unstained skeletal muscle.

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Alignment of synaptic vesicle macromolecules with the macromolecules in active zone material that direct vesicle docking.

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Acetylcholine receptors in regenerating muscle accumulate at original synaptic sites in the absence of the nerve.

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The architecture of active zone material at the frog's neuromuscular junction.

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Factors that influence regeneration of the neuromuscular junction.

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Altered patterns of innervation in frog muscle after denervation.

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Molecular components of the synaptic basal lamina that direct differentiation of regenerating neuromuscular junctions.

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Fine structure of synapses in the dorsal nucleus of the lateral geniculate body of normal and blinded rats.

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Agrin-like molecules at synaptic sites in normal, denervated, and damaged skeletal muscles.

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Cell accumulation in the junctional region of denervated muscle.

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The structure and function of 'active zone material' at synapses.

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Macromolecular connections of active zone material to docked synaptic vesicles and presynaptic membrane at neuromuscular junctions of mouse.

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Molecules in basal lamina that direct the formation of synaptic specializations at neuromuscular junctions.

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Agrin released by motor neurons induces the aggregation of acetylcholine receptors at neuromuscular junctions.

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Mapping The Macromolecular Architecture Of The Synaptic Basal lamina At Neuromuscular Junctions And Localizing The C-terminus of Neural Agrin In It-

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National Institutes of Health - (Bethesda, Maryland, United States)

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DHHS-NIH-National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

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Formation and Maintenance of Neuromuscular Synaptic Connections

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Institutes of Health - (Bethesda, Maryland, United States)

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.preferredLabel
DHHS-NIH-National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

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Localization of Voltage-Gated Ca2+ Channels and Ca2+-Gated K+ Channels to Specific 'Active Zone Material' Macromolecules at Presynaptic Active Zones and How that Influences Neurotransmitter Secretion

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Institutes of Health - (Bethesda, Maryland, United States)

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.preferredLabel
DHHS-NIH-National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

# researcherOn[].label
Localization of Voltage-Gated Ca2+ Channels and Ca2+-Gated K+ Channels to Specific 'Active Zone Material' Macromolecules at Presynaptic Active Zones and How that Influences Neurotransmitter Secretion

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Institutes of Health - (Bethesda, Maryland, United States)

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.preferredLabel
DHHS-NIH-National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

# researcherOn[].label
Localization of Voltage-Gated Ca2+ Channels and Ca2+-Gated K+ Channels to Specific 'Active Zone Material' Macromolecules at Presynaptic Active Zones and How that Influences Neurotransmitter Secretion

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Institutes of Health - (Bethesda, Maryland, United States)

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.preferredLabel
DHHS-NIH-National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

# streetAddress
Texas A&M University; Biology; 3258 TAMU