Terje Lømo

• Lømo, Terje; Eken, Torsten; Rein, Erling Bekkestad & Njå, Arild (2019). Body temperature control in rats by muscle tone during rest or sleep. Acta Physiologica. ISSN 1748-1708. p. 1–26. doi: 10.1111/apha.13348. Full text in Research Archive
• Lømo, Terje (2018). Discovering long-term potentiation (LTP) ? recollections and reflections on what came after. Acta Physiologica. ISSN 1748-1708. 222(2). doi: 10.1111/apha.12921.
• Lømo, Terje (2016). Scientific Discoveries: What Is Required for Lasting Impact. Annual Review of Physiology. ISSN 0066-4278. 78, p. 1–21. doi: 10.1146/annurev-physiol-021115-105257.
• Sloviter, Robert, S. & Lømo, Terje (2012). Updating the lamellar hypothesis of hippocampal organization. Frontiers in Neural Circuits. ISSN 1662-5110. 6(102), p. 1–16. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2012.00102.
• Lømo, Terje (2012). Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) – normal and abnormal aspects. Advances in Clinical Neuroscience & Rehabilitation. ISSN 1473-9348. 12, p. 14–17.
• Lain, E; Carnejac, S; Escher, P; Wilson, MC; Lømo, Terje & Gajendran, N [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2009). A Novel Role for Embigin to Promote Sprouting of Motor Nerve Terminals at the Neuromuscular Junction. Journal of Biological Chemistry. ISSN 0021-9258. 284(13), p. 8921–8930. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M809491200.
• Lømo, Terje (2009). Excitability Changes Within Transverse Lamellae of Dentate Granule Cells and Their Longitudinal Spread Following Orthodromic or Antidromic Activation. Hippocampus. ISSN 1050-9631. 19(7), p. 633–648. doi: 10.1002/hipo.20538.
• Eken, Torsten; Elder, GCB & Lømo, Terje (2008). Development of tonic firing behavior in rat soleus muscle. Journal of Neurophysiology. ISSN 0022-3077. 99. doi: 10.1152/jn.00834.2007.
• Ralston, E.; Lu, Z.; Biscocho, N.; Soumaka, E.; Mavroidis, M. & Prats, C. [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2006). Blood vessels and desmin control the positioning of nuclei in skeletal muscle fibers. Journal of Cellular Physiology. ISSN 0021-9541. 209, p. 874–882.
• Kalhovde, John Magne; Sefland, Iren; Lømo, Terje; Cordonnier, C; Calabria, E & Schiaffino, S (2005). 'Fast' and 'slow' muscle fibres in hindlimb muscles of adult rats regenerate from intrinsically different satellite cells. Journal of Physiology. ISSN 0022-3751. 562(Pt 3), p. 847–857. doi: 10.1113.
• McCullagh, KJA; Calabria, E; Pallafacchina, G; Ciciliot, S; Serrano, AL & Argentini, C [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2004). NFAT is a nerve activity sensor in skeletal muscle and controls activity-dependent myosin switching. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. ISSN 0027-8424. 101(29), p. 10590–10595.
• Lømo, Terje (2003). What controls the position, number, size, and distribution of neuromuscular junctions on rat muscle fibers? Journal of Neurocytology. ISSN 0300-4864. 32, p. 835–848.
• Reid, Brian; Martinov, Vladimir Nikolaev; Njå, Arild; Lømo, Terje & Bewick, Guy S. (2003). Activity-dependent plasticity of transmitter release from nerve terminals in rat fast and slow muscles. Journal of Neuroscience. ISSN 0270-6474. 23(28), p. 9340–9348. Show summary

  Neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) on fast and slow muscle fibers display different transmitter release characteristics that appear well adapted to the different patterns of nerve impulses that they transmit in vivo. Here, we ask whether the release properties of such NMJs, termed fast and slow, can be transformed by chronic nerve stimulation. In young adult rats, nerve impulse conduction in the sciatic nerve was blocked by TTX, and the nerve to the fast extensor digitorum longus (EDL) or the slow soleus (SOL) muscle stimulated directly below the block with slow (20 Hz for 10 sec every 30 sec) or fast (150 Hz for 1 sec every 60 sec) stimulus patterns, respectively. After 3-4 weeks, originally fast EDL-NMJs and slow SOL-NMJs had become almost fully transformed to slow and fast NMJs, respectively, with respect to maintenance of transmitter release during tonic 20 Hz stimulation in vitro and ratio of quantal content to vesicle pool size. TTX block alone had no such transforming effect. Vesicle recycle time was unaffected by the stimulation, whereas initial quantal content and vesicle pool size were reduced (by 49% and 57% in EDL and 33% and 67% in SOL). Muscle fiber diameter also declined (by 49% in EDL and 33% in SOL vs 46% in unstimulated SOL; unstimulated EDL was not examined). We conclude that fast and slow NMJs display marked plasticity by being able to adapt important release characteristics to the impulse patterns imposed on them.

• Martinov, Vladimir Nikolaev; Sefland, Iren; Walaas, Sven Ivar; Lømo, Terje; Njå, Arild & Hoover, Frank (2002). Targeting functional subtypes of spinal motoneurons and skeletal muscle fibers in vivo by intramuscular injection of adenoviral and adeno-associated viral vectors. Anatomy and Embryology. ISSN 0340-2061. 205, p. 215–221. Show summary

  We report that functional subtypes of spinal motoneurons and skeletal muscle fibers can be selectively transduced using replication-defective adenoviral (ADV) or adeno-associated (AAV) viral vectors. After intramuscular injection in adult rodents, ADV vectors transduced both fast-twitch and slow-twitch skeletal muscle fibers. Intramuscular injection of ADV vectors also caused transduction of spinal motoneurons and dorsal root ganglion cells. However, only neurons innervating the injected muscle were transduced, as shown by co-injection of a retrograde axonal tracer. In adult male rats it is therefore possible to transduce fast or slow spinal motoneurons and muscle fibers selectively since in these animals, the extensor digitorum longus and soleus muscles contain almost exclusively fast or slow motor units, respectively. In rats, AAV vectors transduced muscle fibers in the predominantly fast extensor digitorum longus but not in the predominantly slow soleus muscle. We did not observe any transduction of spinal motoneurons following intramuscular injection of AAV vectors. These results show that physiologically and clinically important subpopulations of cells in the neuromuscular system can be selectively transduced by viral vectors.

• Hoover, Frank; Kalhovde, John Magne; Dahle, Maria Krutå; Skålhegg, Bjørn Steen; Tasken, Kjetil & Lømo, Terje (2002). Electrical muscle activity pattern and transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms regulate the PKA subunit expression in rat skeletal muscle. Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. ISSN 1044-7431. 19, p. 125–137.
• Bezakova, Gabriela; Helm, Paul Johannes; Francolini, Maura & Lømo, Terje (2001). Effects of purified recombinant neural and muscle agrin on skeletal muscle fibers in vivo. Journal of Cell Biology. ISSN 0021-9525. 153(7), p. 1441–1452.
• Awad, S.S.; Lightowlers, R.N.; Young, C.; Chrzanowska-Lightowlers, Z.M.; Lømo, Terje & Slater, C.R. (2001). Sodium channel mRNAs at the neuromuscular junction: distinct patterns of accumulation and effects of muscle activity. Journal of Neuroscience. ISSN 0270-6474. 21, p. 8456–8463. Show summary

  Voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) are highly concentrated at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) in mammalian skeletal muscle. Here we test the hypothesis that local upregulation of mRNA contributes to this accumulation. We designed radiolabeled antisense RNA probes, specific for the "adult" Na(V)1.4 and "fetal" Na(V)1.5 isoforms of VGSC in mammalian skeletal muscle, and used them in in situ hybridization studies of rat soleus muscles. Na(V)1.4 mRNA is present throughout normal adult muscles but is highly concentrated at the NMJ, in which the amount per myonucleus is more than eightfold greater than away from the NMJ. Na(V)1.5 mRNA is undetectable in innervated muscles but is dramatically upregulated by denervation. In muscles denervated for 1 week, both Na(V)1.4 and Na(V)1.5 mRNAs are present throughout the muscle, and both are concentrated at the NMJ. No Na(V)1.5 mRNA was detectable in denervated muscles stimulated electrically for 1 week in vivo. Neither denervation nor stimulation had any significant effect on the level or distribution of Na(V)1.4 mRNA. We conclude that factors, probably derived from the nerve, lead to the increased concentration of VGSC mRNAs at the NMJ. In addition, the expression of Na(V)1.5 mRNA is downregulated by muscle activity, both at the NMJ and away from it.

• Bezakova, Gabriela; Rabben, Inger; Sefland, Iren; Fumagalli, G. & Lømo, Terje (2001). Neural agrin controls acetylcholine receptor stability in skeletal muscle fibers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. ISSN 0027-8424. 98, p. 9924–9929. Show summary

  At mammalian neuromuscular junctions (NMJs), innervation induces and maintains the metabolic stability of acetylcholine receptors (AChRs). To explore whether neural agrin may cause similar receptor stabilization, we injected neural agrin cDNA of increasing transfection efficiencies into denervated adult rat soleus (SOL) muscles. As the efficiency increased, the amount of recombinant neural agrin expressed in the muscles also increased. This agrin aggregated AChRs on muscle fibers, whose half-life increased in a dose-dependent way from 1 to 10 days. Electrical muscle stimulation enhanced the stability of AChRs with short half-lives. Therefore, neural agrin can stabilize aggregated AChRs in a concentration- and activity-dependent way. However, there was no effect of stimulation on AChRs with a long half-life (10 days). Thus, at sufficiently high concentrations, neural agrin alone can stabilize AChRs to levels characteristic of innervated NMJs.

• Bezakova, Gabriela & Lømo, Terje (2001). Muscle activity and muscle agrin regulate the organization of cytoskeletal proteins and attached acetylcholine receptor (AchR) aggregates in skeletal muscle fibers. Journal of Cell Biology. ISSN 0021-9525. 153, p. 1453–1463. Show summary

  In innervated skeletal muscle fibers, dystrophin and beta-dystroglycan form rib-like structures (costameres) that appear as predominantly transverse stripes over Z and M lines. Here, we show that the orientation of these stripes becomes longitudinal in denervated muscles and transverse again in denervated electrically stimulated muscles. Skeletal muscle fibers express nonneural (muscle) agrin whose function is not well understood. In this work, a single application of > or = 10 nM purified recombinant muscle agrin into denervated muscles preserved the transverse orientation of costameric proteins that is typical for innervated muscles, as did a single application of > or = 1 microM neural agrin. At lower concentration, neural agrin induced acetylcholine receptor aggregates, which colocalized with longitudinally oriented beta-dystroglycan, dystrophin, utrophin, syntrophin, rapsyn, and beta 2-laminin in denervated unstimulated fibers and with the same but transversely oriented proteins in innervated or denervated stimulated fibers. The results indicate that costameres are plastic structures whose organization depends on electrical muscle activity and/or muscle agrin.

• Bezakova, Gabriela; Helm, Paul Johannes; Francolini, M. & Lømo, Terje (2001). Effects of purified recombinant neural and muscle agrin on skeletal muscle fibers in vivo. Journal of Cell Biology. ISSN 0021-9525. 153, p. 1441–1452. Show summary

  Aggregation of acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) in muscle fibers by nerve-derived agrin plays a key role in the formation of neuromuscular junctions. So far, the effects of agrin on muscle fibers have been studied in culture systems, transgenic animals, and in animals injected with agrin--cDNA constructs. We have applied purified recombinant chick neural and muscle agrin to rat soleus muscle in vivo and obtained the following results. Both neural and muscle agrin bind uniformly to the surface of innervated and denervated muscle fibers along their entire length. Neural agrin causes a dose-dependent appearance of AChR aggregates, which persist > or = 7 wk after a single application. Muscle agrin does not cluster AChRs and at 10 times the concentration of neural agrin does not reduce binding or AChR-aggregating activity of neural agrin. Electrical muscle activity affects the stability of agrin binding and the number, size, and spatial distribution of the neural agrin--induced AChR aggregates. Injected agrin is recovered from the muscles together with laminin and both proteins coimmunoprecipitate, indicating that agrin binds to laminin in vivo. Thus, the present approach provides a novel, simple, and efficient method for studying the effects of agrin on muscle under controlled conditions in vivo.

• Hoover, Frank; Mathiesen, Iacob; Skalhegg, B. S.; Lømo, Terje & Tasken, Kjetil (2001). Differential expression and regulation of the PKA signalling pathway in fast and slow skeletal muscle. Anatomy and Embryology. ISSN 0340-2061. 203, p. 193–201. Show summary

  To identify intracellular signalling pathways that transduce muscle electrical activity, we have investigated the Protein Kinase A (PKA) pathway in fast and slow skeletal muscle. The slow soleus muscle (SOL) displayed approximately twice as much PKA catalytic activity and cAMP- binding compared to the fast Extensor Digitorum Longus (EDL) muscle. These results were confirmed by Western blot analysis using antibodies directed against the catalytic or regulatory subunits of PKA. PKA subunits were concentrated at the neuromuscular junction in innervated and denervated muscle fibers demonstrating that PKA is expressed post- synaptically. In addition, we also detected PKA subunits outside the junctional area, suggesting that PKA functions outside of the synaptic regions. Following denervation, levels of cyclic AMP, PKA C activity, R cAMP-binding and RI alpha protein levels increased significantly in the SOL, in contrast to the EDL where only elevated levels of RI alpha protein were observed. These observations demonstrate that PKA levels in skeletal muscle are subject to control at several levels and suggest that some of the differences may be in the pattern of electrical activity that motoneurons impose on the SOL and EDL.

• Ralston, E.; Ploug, T.; Kalhovde, John Magne & Lømo, Terje (2001). Golgi complex, endoplasmic reticulum exit sites, and microtubules in skeletal muscle fibers are organized by patterned activity. Journal of Neuroscience. ISSN 0270-6474. 21, p. 875–883. Show summary

  The Golgi complex of skeletal muscle fibers is made of thousands of dispersed elements. The distributions of these elements and of the microtubules they associate with differ in fast compared with slow and in innervated compared with denervated fibers. To investigate the role of muscle impulse activity, we denervated fast extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and slow soleus (SOL) muscles of adult rats and stimulated them directly with patterns that resemble the impulse patterns of normal fast EDL (25 pulses at 150 Hz every 15 min) and slow SOL (200 pulses at 20 Hz every 30 sec) motor units. After 2 weeks of denervation plus stimulation, peripheral and central regions of muscle fibers were examined by immunofluorescence microscopy with regard to density and distribution of Golgi complex, microtubules, glucose transporter GLUT4, centrosomes, and endoplasmic reticulum exit sites. In extrajunctional regions, fast pattern stimulation preserved normal fast characteristics of all markers in EDL type IIB/IIX fibers, although inducing changes toward the fast phenotype in originally slow type I SOL fibers, such as a 1.5-fold decrease of the density of Golgi elements at the fiber surface. Slow pattern stimulation had converse effects such as a 2.2- fold increase of the density of Golgi elements at the EDL fiber surface. In junctional regions, where fast and slow fibers are similar, both stimulation patterns prevented a denervation-induced accumulation of GLUT4. The results indicate that patterns of muscle impulse activity, as normally imposed by motor neurons, play a major role in regulating the organization of Golgi complex and related proteins in the extrajunctional region of muscle fibers.

• Serrano, A. L.; Murgia, M.; Pallafacchina, G.; Calabria, E.; Coniglio, P. & Lømo, Terje [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2001). Calcineurin controls nerve activity-dependent specification of slow skeletal muscle fibers but not muscle growth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. ISSN 0027-8424. 98, p. 13108–13113. Show summary

  Nerve activity can induce long-lasting, transcription-dependent changes in skeletal muscle fibers and thus affect muscle growth and fiber-type specificity. Calcineurin signaling has been implicated in the transcriptional regulation of slow muscle fiber genes in culture, but the functional role of calcineurin in vivo has not been unambiguously demonstrated. Here, we report that the up-regulation of slow myosin heavy chain (MyHC) and a MyHC-slow promoter induced by slow motor neurons in regenerating rat soleus muscle is prevented by the calcineurin inhibitors cyclosporin A (CsA), FK506, and the calcineurin inhibitory protein domain from cain/cabin-1. In contrast, calcineurin inhibitors do not block the increase in fiber size induced by nerve activity in regenerating muscle. The activation of MyHC-slow induced by direct electrostimulation of denervated regenerating muscle with a continuous low frequency impulse pattern is blocked by CsA, showing that calcineurin function in muscle fibers and not in motor neurons is responsible for nerve-dependent specification of slow muscle fibers. Calcineurin is also involved in the maintenance of the slow muscle fiber gene program because in the adult soleus muscle, cain causes a switch from MyHC-slow to fast-type MyHC-2X and MyHC-2B gene expression, and the activity of the MyHC-slow promoter is inhibited by CsA and FK506.

• Murgia, M.; Serrano, A. L.; Calabria, E.; Pallafacchina, G.; Lømo, Terje & Schiaffino, S. (2000). Ras is involved in nerve-activity-dependent regulation of muscle genes. Nature Cell Biology. ISSN 1465-7392. 2, p. 142–147. Show summary

  Gene expression in skeletal muscle is regulated by the firing pattern of motor neurons, but the signalling systems involved in excitation- transcription coupling are unknown. Here, using in vivo transfection in regenerating muscle, we show that constitutively active Ras and a Ras mutant that selectively activates the MAPK(ERK) pathway are able to mimic the effects of slow motor neurons on expression of myosin genes. Conversely, the effect of slow motor neurons is inhibited by a dominant- negative Ras mutant. MAPK(ERK) activity is increased by innervation and by low-frequency electrical stimulation. These results indicate that Ras-MAPK signalling is involved in promoting nerve-activity-dependent differentiation of slow muscle fibres in vivo.

• Steyern, Fredrik Vult von; Martinov, Vladimir Nikolaev; Rabben, Inger; Njå, Arild; Laperière, Odile de & Lømo, Terje (1999). The homeodomain transcription factors Islet 1 and HB9 are expressed in adult alpha and gamma motoneurons identified by selective retrograde tracing. European Journal of Neuroscience. ISSN 0953-816X. 11, p. 2093–2102. Show summary

  To study gene expression in differentiated adult motoneuron subtypes, we used fluorescent dextrans for both anterograde and retrograde axonal tracing in adult rat and mouse. Application of these dyes to the cut distal and proximal ends of small extramuscular nerve branches revealed both the peripheral ramifications and the cell bodies of subsets of motoneurons. We show that the soleus muscle is innervated by two nerve branches, one of which contains gamma motor and sensory axons but no alpha motor axons. By retrograde tracing of this branch, we selectively labelled gamma motoneurons. In adult rat, the nerves innervating the soleus and extensor digitorum longus muscles contain almost exclusively axons innervating slow (type I) and fast (type 2) muscle fibres, respectively. We selectively labelled slow and fast type motoneurons by retrograde tracing of these nerves. With immunocytochemistry we show that adult motoneurons express several homeodomain genes that are associated with motoneuron differentiation during early embryonic development. Combining selective retrograde labelling with immunocytochemistry we compared the expression patterns in alpha and gamma motoneurons. The homeodomain transcription factors Islet 1 and HB9 were expressed in slow and fast alpha motoneurons and in soleus gamma motoneurons. Motoneurons in each population varied in their intensity of the immunostaining, but no factor or combination of factors was unique to any one population.

• Mathiesen, Iacob; Rimer, Mendell; Ashtari, Ohmid; Cohen, Ilana; McMahan, Uel J. & Lømo, Terje (1999). Regulation of the size and distribution of agrin-induced postsynaptic-like apparatus in adult skeletal muscle by electrical muscle activity. Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. ISSN 1044-7431. 13(3), p. 207–217. Show summary

  We compared actylcholine receptor (AChR) aggregates induced by neural agrin released from transfected muscle fibers with AChR aggregates induced by transplanted axons in extrajunctional regions of denervated rat soleus muscles. Both neural agrin and transplanted axons induced multiple, irregularly distributed AChR aggregates on muscle fibers. Direct electrical muscle stimulation of transfected muscles for up to 10 weeks removed all agrin-induced AChR aggregates (the losers) except one (the winner) on many fibers. Axon-induced AChR aggregates underwent comparable selection of winners and losers. The results suggest that agrin and acetylcholine-driven muscle activity provided by transplanted axons are sufficient to elicit in a denervated adult muscle fiber processes that regulate the size and distribution of ectopic neuromuscular junctions.

• Skorpen, Johannes; Lafond-Benestad, Sylvie & Lømo, Terje (1999). Regulation of the size and distribution of ectopic neuromuscular junctions in adult skeletal muscle by nerve-derived trophic factor and electrical muscle activity. Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. ISSN 1044-7431. 13(3), p. 192–206. Show summary

  Transplanted axons induced multiple, irregularly distributed acetylcholine receptor (AChR) aggregates on muscle fibers at early stages of ectopic neuromuscular junction formation in denervated adult rat soleus muscles. Subsequently, most AChR aggregates disappeared (the losers). A few aggregates survived (the winners) and, as part of the surviving junctions, reached a certain size and spatial separation along the fibers. This elimination of losers and development of winners occurred only in electrically active muscles whether the activity was elicited by intact axons or by electrical muscle stimulation after the axons had been cut early. We conclude that electrical muscle activity regulates the size and distribution of ectopic neuromuscular junctions by acting in conjunction with a nerve-derived priming influence that does not require the continued presence of nerve terminals.

• Windisch, A.; Gundersen, Kristian; Szabolcs, M.J.; Gruber, H. & Lømo, Terje (1998). Fast to slow transformation of denervated and electrically stimulated rat muscle. Journal of Physiology. ISSN 0022-3751. 510(2), p. 623–632.
• Lømo, Terje (1998). Agrin and the neuromuscular junction. Trends in Neurosciences. ISSN 0166-2236. 21(10), p. 426–427.
• Rimer, Mendell; Cohen, Ilana; Lømo, Terje; Burden, S.J. & McMahan, Uel J. (1998). Neuregulins and erbB receptors at neuromuscular junctions and at agrin-induced postsynaptic-like apparatus in skeletal muscle. Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. ISSN 1044-7431. 12(1-2), p. 1–15.
• Cohen, Ilana; Rimer, Mendell; Lømo, Terje & McMahan, Uel J. (1997). Agrin-induced postsynaptic-like apparatus in skeletal muscle fibers in vivo. Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. ISSN 1044-7431. 9, p. 237–253.
• Rimer, Mendell; Mathiesen, Iacob; Lømo, Terje & McMahan, Uel J. (1997). Gamma-AChR/epsilon-AChR switch at agrin-induced postsynaptic-like apparatus in skeletal muscle. Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. ISSN 1044-7431. 9, p. 254–263.

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• Lømo, Terje (2012). Plastisitet i hjernen: mekanismer og betydning. Gyldendal Norsk Forlag A/S. ISBN 978-82-05-41214-9. 8 p.

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• Gjerstad, Leif; Jensen, Vidar; Langmoen, Iver Arne; Lømo, Terje; Moser, Edvard Ingjald & Moser, May-Britt [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2020). Per Andersen. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening. ISSN 0029-2001. 9. doi: 10.4045/tidsskr.20.0353.
• Lømo, Terje (2014). Nobelprisen i fysiologi eller medisin 2014. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening. ISSN 0029-2001. 134(23-24). doi: 10.4045/tidsskr.14.1370.
• Lømo, Terje (2011). Memories and after-effects of a year (1958-59) as student and resident at Istituto di Fisiologia in Pisa. Archives Italiennes de Biologie. ISSN 0003-9829. 149(4), p. 104–111. Show summary

  In the1950s, the Institute of Anatomy in Oslo and of Physiology in Pisa were in close contact and exchanged visitors. I was a medical student at the time, and on Professor Alf Brodal’s recommendation Professor Giuseppe Moruzzi welcomed me to Pisa to do research and even offered me a room in the Institute to live in. The year was 1958-1959, which for me it turned out very rewarding and decisive for my later choice of career. In this paper I describe some of my memories from that time and, briefly, some of my pursuits in science after that time.

• Lømo, Terje (2009). Neuromuscular Junction (NMJ): Activity-Dependent Muscle Fiber Modulation. In Squire, Larry R. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Elsevier. ISSN 9780080450469. p. 559–568.
• Martinov, Vladimir Nikolaev; Sefland, Iren; Walaas, Sven Ivar; Lømo, Terje; Njå, Arild & Hoover, Frank (2001). Transduction of nerve- and muscle fibers by recombinant viral vectors in vivo. Show summary

  Replication deficient viral vectors, based on adenovirus (ADV) or adeno-associated virus (AAV) and encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP), were injected into exposed hindlimb muscles of adult mice under chloral hydrate/pentobarbital anaesthesia (soleus or extensor digitorum longus). Tissues were fixed by cardiac perfusion after a few days to several months, sectioned on a cryostat and examined in a fluorescence microscope. The ADV and AAV vectors both transduced skeletal muscle fibers. The ADV vector also transduced motoneurons innervating the injected muscle but not other spinal cord neurons (as shown by co-injection of the fluorescent retrograde tracer tetramethylrhodamine-dextran). In addition, GFP was detected in sensory neurons in the corresponding dorsal root ganglia (L4-L5). These results indicate that ADV vectors can target identified sets of motor and sensory neurons by endocytosis and retrograde axonal transport after injection into a small leg muscle. The AAV vector causes transduction of skeletal muscle fibers, but does not appear to transduce neurons by retrograde axonal transport. These properties make ADV and AAV vectors valuable tools for carrying gene constructs into the adult neuromuscular system in vivo.

• Njå, Arild; Reid, Brian; Martinov, Vladimir Nikolaev; Wærhaug, Ola; Lømo, Terje & Bewick, Guy S. (2001). Fast and slow motor nerve terminals: Interchanging their impulse activity patterns. Show summary

  Mammalian motor units differ widely with respect to functional properties and patterns of use. Great demands are placed on slow nerve-muscle synapses in order to keep up transmitter release during prolonged periods of activity. By combining optical and electrical correlates of transmitter release, estimates were obtained for key parameters such as vesicle recycling time, total pool of synaptic vesicles and the fraction of this pool that is exocytosed per nerve impulse. In normal rats, slow terminals have a larger store of synaptic vesicles and lose a smaller fraction of this pool per nerve impulse. We asked whether such neuronal properties are fixed or plastic when impulse patterns are manipulated experimentally, and report that rundown of quantal content in slow nerve terminals that had been chronically activated with a fast pattern (150Hz for 1s every 60s) for 1 month was virtually similar to that in normal fast terminals. Vesicle recycle times were unchanged. These results demonstrate long-term activity-dependent plasticity of adult motor nerve terminals, and suggest that nerve cells have a substantial capacity to change their mode of operation subsequent to novel patterns of training.

• Steyern, Fredrik Vult von; Martinov, Vladimir Nikolaev; Rabben, Inger; Njå, Arild & Lømo, Terje (1998). Selective tracing of peripheral nerves enables identification of defined subsets of spinal motoneurons in rat and mouse.
• Martinov, Vladimir Nikolaev; Steyern, Fredrik Vult von; Rabben, Inger; Njå, Arild & Lømo, Terje (1997). Anterograde and retrograde staining of subsets of spinal motoneurons with fluorescently labeled dextran.
• Utvik, Jo Kristian; Ashtari, Ohmid; Bruusgaard, Jo C.; Bezakova, Gabriela; Mathiesen, Iacob & Lømo, Terje [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (1997). Injection and expression of foreign DNA in single skeletal muscle fibers in vivo.

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