A new grouping of intrafusal muscle fibers based on developmental studies of muscle spindles in the cat

1979 ◽  
Vol 156 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Butler
1971 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
William K. Ovalle

An ultrastructural comparison of the two types of intrafusal muscle fibers in muscle spindles of the rat was undertaken. Discrete myofibrils with abundant interfibrillar sarcoplasm and organelles characterize the nuclear chain muscle fiber, while a continuous myofibril-like bundle with sparse interfibrillar sarcoplasm distinguishes the nuclear bag muscle fiber. Nuclear chain fibers possess well-defined and typical M bands in the center of each sarcomere, while nuclear bag fibers contain ill-defined M bands composed of two parallel thin densities in the center of the pseudo-H zone of each sarcomere. Mitochondria of nuclear chain fibers are larger and more numerous than they are in nuclear bag fibers. Mitochondria of chain fibers, in addition, often contain conspicuous dense granules, and they are frequently intimately related to elements of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Striking differences are noted in the organization and degree of development of the sarcotubular system. Nuclear bag fibers contain a poorly developed SR and T system with only occasional junctional couplings (dyads and triads). Nuclear chain fibers, in contrast, possess an unusually well-developed SR and T system and a variety of multiple junctional couplings (dyads, triads, quatrads, pentads, septads). Greatly dilated SR cisternae are common features of nuclear chain fibers, often forming intimate associations with T tubules, mitochondria, and the sarcolemma. Such dilatations of the SR were not encountered in nuclear bag fibers. The functional significance of these structural findings is discussed.


1972 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. K. Ovalle ◽  
R. S. Smith

Serial frozen section of muscle spindles in the lumbrical muscles of the cat and the monkey were tested with a recently described modification of the myosin ATPase reaction (Guth and Samaha 1970. Exp. Neurol 28, 365). This reaction is able to detect acid-stable, alkaline-labile myosin ATPase and acid-labile, alkaline-stable myosin ATPase. The reactions were carried out by preincubation of the sections at pH 10.4 or 4.35 with incubation in a substrate at pH 9.4. In both the cat and the monkey three types of intrafusal muscle fibers could be detected on the basis of their reaction for myosin ATPase. Nuclear bag fibers could be divided into two types: those containing the acid-stable form of myosin ATPase only, and those containing ATPase detectable under both acid and alkaline conditions. Nuclear chain fibers contained the alkaline-stable form of ATPase only.


1987 ◽  
Vol 191 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. N. Adal ◽  
S. B. Chew Cheng

1978 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 973-988 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Kucera ◽  
K Dorovini-Zis ◽  
W K Engel

Muscle spindles were followed in serial transverse sections of freshly frozen rat soleus muscles. Adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) histochemical staining reaction was used to identify nuclear bag1, nuclear bag2 and nuclear chain intrafusal muscle fibers. Regional differences in ATPase staining occurred along bag1 and bag2 fibers but not along chain fibers. Bag1 fibers displayed ultrastructural heterogenity when their intra- and extracapsular regions were compared. Simple "diffuse" and more elaborate "plate" motor nerve terminals were demonstrated histochemically along the poles of bag1 and bag2 fibers by staining for cholinesterase. One motor terminal of the "plate" appearance was present on a chain fiber pole. There was no consistent spatial correlation between the intensity of regional ATPase staining along the nuclear bag fibers and the location, number and type of motor endings. Other factors, such as intrafusal fiber sensory innervation and regional differences in active and passive functional recruitment of nuclear bag fibers during muscle activity, may contribute to the ATPase staining variability along the intrafusal fibers.


1998 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Taylor ◽  
P. H. Ellaway ◽  
R. Durbaba

Taylor, A., P. H. Ellaway, and R. Durbaba. Physiological signs of the activation of bag2 and chain intrafusal muscle fibers of gastrocnemius muscle spindles in the cat. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 130–142, 1998. A method is described for identifying the effect of single gamma static (γs) axons on bag2 or chain intrafusal fibers using random (Poisson-distributed) stimuli. The cross-correlogram of the stimuli with the firing of spindle primary afferents took one of three forms. A large, simple, brief response was taken to indicate pure chain fiber activation and a small, prolonged response to indicate pure bag2 activation. A compound response with brief and prolonged components was taken to be a sign of mixed innervation. The correlogram components could be well fitted with lognormal curves. They could also be transformed into curves of gain as a function of frequency, which were convenient for estimating the strength of the effects. In 68 effects of γs axons on Ia afferents, 16 were pure chain, 17 pure bag2, and 35 mixed. This distribution was significantly different ( P < 0.05) from that expected from chance nonspecific innervation of chain and bag2 fibers. Making use of the estimates of the strength of chain and bag2 effects derived from the gain curves, the classification was modified by treating mixed responses that had one effect more than five times stronger than the other as belonging to the dominant type. The distribution was then as follows: chain 16, bag2 28, and mixed 24. This differed very significantly from the prediction of chance distribution ( P < 0.001). This evidence for some degree of specific innervation of chain and bag2 fibers is discussed in relation to previous work and with regard to the ways in which the two fiber types might be used in natural movements.


2012 ◽  
Vol 108 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi Wang ◽  
LingYing Li ◽  
Eric Frank

Muscle sensory axons induce the development of specialized intrafusal muscle fibers in muscle spindles during development, but the role that the intrafusal fibers may play in the development of the central projections of these Ia sensory axons is unclear. In the present study, we assessed the influence of intrafusal fibers in muscle spindles on the formation of monosynaptic connections between Ia (muscle spindle) sensory axons and motoneurons (MNs) using two transgenic strains of mice. Deletion of the ErbB2 receptor from developing myotubes disrupts the formation of intrafusal muscle fibers and causes a nearly complete absence of functional synaptic connections between Ia axons and MNs. Monosynaptic connectivity can be fully restored by postnatal administration of neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), and the synaptic connections in NT-3-treated mice are as specific as in wild-type mice. Deletion of the Egr3 transcription factor also impairs the development of intrafusal muscle fibers and disrupts synaptic connectivity between Ia axons and MNs. Postnatal injections of NT-3 restore the normal strengths and specificity of Ia–motoneuronal connections in these mice as well. Severe deficits in intrafusal fiber development, therefore, do not disrupt the establishment of normal, selective patterns of connections between Ia axons and MNs, although these connections require the presence of NT-3, normally supplied by intrafusal fibers, to be functional.


1999 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. 2823-2832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Petit ◽  
Robert W. Banks ◽  
Yves Laporte

Testing the classification of static γ axons using different patterns of random stimulation. The possibility of using randomly generated stimulus intervals (with a Poisson distribution) to identify the type(s) of intrafusal fiber activated by the stimulation of single static γ axons was tested in Peroneus tertius muscle spindles of anesthetized cats. Three patterns of random stimulation with different values of mean intervals [20 ± 4.47, 30 ± 8.94, and 40 ± 8.94 (SD) ms] were used. Single static γ axons activating, in single spindles, either the bag2 fiber alone or the chain fibers alone or both types of intrafusal fiber were prepared. Responses of spindle primary endings elicited by the stimulation of γ axons were recorded from Ia fibers in cut dorsal root filaments. Cross-correlograms between stimuli and spikes of the primary ending responses, autocorrelograms, interval histograms of responses, and stimulations were built. The characteristics of cross-correlograms were found to be related not only to the type of intrafusal muscle fibers activated but also to the parameters of the stimulation. Moreover some cross-correlograms with similar characteristics were produced by the activation of different intrafusal muscle fibers. It also was observed that, whatever the type of intrafusal muscle fiber activated, cross-correlograms could exhibit oscillations after an initial peak, provided the extent in frequency of the primary ending response was small; these oscillations arise in part from the autocorrelation of the primary ending responses. Therefore, cross-correlograms obtained during random stimulation of static γ axons cannot be used for unequivocally identifying the type(s) of intrafusal muscle fiber these axons supply.


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