Rabies and ACh receptors

[MRpremed-dudeguy]

I am hoping someone can help me understand this...

FA says that rabies virus "Travels to the CNS by migrating in a retrograde fashion up nerve axons after binding to ACh receptors"

Uworld also says that rabies virus binds nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.

Sketchy is all over the place and says that rabies binds ACh recpetors, replicates in motor neurons, travels retrograde to dorsal roots (motor neurons aren't in the dorsal root so this thoroughly confuses me) before reaching CNS.

So what is the rabies virus doing? first of all nicotinic ACh receptors would be on the post-synaptic side of the motor end plate, so does the virus enter here, replicate, then leave and pop across to the neuron to travel retrograde? once in a neuron is it the sensory neuron to the dorsal horn? motor neuron?

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[mk04447]

I think you're reading too much into this. Reread what you wrote, travels retrograde TO the CNS.

 

[MRpremed-dudeguy]

The concept of retrograde transport from peripheral motor nerve to CNS makes sense, what doesn't make sense is is the nACh receptor as a point of entry to travel this route (these receptors are on postsynaptic muscle, not presynaptic axons), or the idea of the virus going through dorsal horn (this would be anterograde from periphery through sensory neuron).