Neuromuscular conduction techniques

A full neuromuscular evaluation is needed to adequately analyze the cause of a neuromuscular problem in an aging patient, as it is in a patient of any age. This includes detailed blood tests, nerve conductions, electromyography (EMG), and a muscle biopsy (performed under local anesthetic, as an out-patient) studied by a battery of histo-chemical techniques. Often, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination is also needed. Sometimes relevant magnetic resonance imaging is necessary. 

The Drosophila neuromusculature has been subject to extensive physiological investigation for more than 20 years (Jan and Jan 1976a,b Jan et al. 1997). It has been the primary tissue for the study of ionic conductances, synaptic transmission, and the output of central pattern generation. In all cases, recording has focused on the somatic muscles and the output onto these muscles by the glutamatergic NMJ. Discussed here are neuromuscular cultures derived from dissociated cells and whole-embryo culture, and recording techniques from the embryonic, larval, and adult neuromusculature in situ. 

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