Motor Endplate—Anatomical, Functional, and Molecular Concepts in the Historical Perspective

By mediating voluntary muscle movement, vertebrate neuromuscular junctions (NMJ) play an extraordinarily important role in physiology. While the significance of the nerve-muscle connectivity was already conceived almost 2000 years back, the precise cell and molecular biology of the NMJ have been revealed in a series of fascinating research activities that started around 180 years ago and that continues. In all this time, NMJ research has led to fundamentally new concepts of cell biology, and has triggered groundbreaking advancements in technologies. This review tries to sketch major lines of thought and concepts on NMJ in their historical perspective, in particular with respect to anatomy, function, and molecular components. Furthermore, along these lines, it emphasizes the mutual benefit between science and technology, where one drives the other. Finally, we speculate on potential major future directions for studies on NMJ in these fields.