scholarly journals Crossed motor innervation of the base of human tongue

2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (10) ◽  
pp. 3499-3510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leszek Kubin ◽  
Amy S. Jordan ◽  
Christian L. Nicholas ◽  
Jennifer M. Cori ◽  
John G. Semmler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Potentials ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Motor Units ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Considerable Proportion ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Motor Innervation ◽  
Single Motor Units ◽  
Human Tongue ◽  
Base Of The Tongue

Muscle fibers of the genioglossus (GG) form the bulk of the muscle mass at the base of the tongue. The motor control of the tongue is critical for vocalization, feeding, and breathing. Our goal was to assess the patterns of motor innervation of GG single motor units (SMUs) in humans. Simultaneous monopolar recordings were obtained from four sites in the base of the tongue bilaterally at two antero-posterior levels from 16 resting, awake, healthy adult males, who wore a face mask with airway pressure and airflow sensors. We analyzed 69 data segments in which at least one lead contained large action potentials generated by an SMU. Such potentials served as triggers for spike-triggered averaging (STA) of signals recorded from the other three sites. Spontaneous activity of the SMUs was classified as inspiratory modulated, expiratory modulated, or tonic. Consistent with the antero-posterior orientation of GG fibers, 44 STAs (77%) recorded ipsilateral to the trigger yielded sharp action potentials with a median amplitude of 52 μV [interquartile range (IQR): 25–190] that were time shifted relative to the trigger by about 1 ms. Notably, 48% of recordings on the side opposite to the trigger also yielded sharp action potentials. Of those, 17 (29%) had a median amplitude of 63 μV (IQR: 39–96), and most were generated by tonic SMUs. Thus a considerable proportion of GG muscle fibers receive a crossed motor innervation. Crossed innervation may help ensure symmetry and stability of tongue position and movements under normal conditions and following injury or degenerative changes affecting the tongue.

Summation of motor unit tensions in the tibialis posterior muscle of the cat under isometric and nonisometric conditions

1991 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 1838-1846 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. K. Powers ◽  
M. D. Binder
Keyword(s):  
Motor Unit ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Stimulus Frequency ◽  
Muscle Length ◽  
Motor Units ◽  
Force Transducer ◽  
Tibialis Posterior ◽  
Single Motor Units ◽  
Individual Motor ◽  
Stimulation Of

1. The tension produced by the combined stimulation of two to four single motor units of the cat tibialis posterior muscle was compared with the algebraic sum of the tensions produced by each individual motor unit. Comparisons were made under isometric conditions and during imposed changes in muscle length. 2. Under isometric conditions, the tension resulting from combined stimulation of units displayed marked nonlinear summation, as previously reported in other cat hindlimb muscles. On average, the measured tension was approximately 20% greater than the algebraic sum of the individual unit tensions. However, small trapezoidal movements imposed on the muscle during stimulation significantly reduced the degree of nonlinear summation both during and after the movement. This effect was seen with imposed movements as small as 50 microns. 3. The degree of nonlinear summation was not dependent on motor unit size or on stimulus frequency. The effect was also unrelated to tendon compliance because the degree of nonlinear summation of motor unit forces was unaffected by the inclusion of different amounts of the external tendon between the muscle and the force transducer. 4. Our results support previous suggestions that the force measured when individual motor units are stimulated under isometric conditions is reduced by friction between the active muscle fibers and adjacent passive fibers. These frictional effects are likely to originate in the connective tissue matrix connecting adjacent muscle fibers. However, because these effects are virtually eliminated by small movements, linear summation of motor unit tensions should occur at low force levels under nonisometric conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

2-deoxyglucose autoradiography of single motor units: labeling of individual acutely active muscle fibers

1982 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Toop ◽  
Robert E. Burke ◽  
Richard P. Dum ◽  
Michael J. O'Donovan ◽  
Carolyn B. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Motor Units ◽  
Active Muscle ◽  
Single Motor ◽  
Single Motor Units

Discharge Variability of Motor Units in an Intrinsic Muscle of Transplanted Hand

2008 ◽  
Vol 99 (5) ◽  
pp. 2232-2240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Farina ◽  
Marco Pozzo ◽  
Marco Lanzetta ◽  
Roger M. Enoka
Keyword(s):  
Motor Neurons ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Discharge Rate ◽  
Motor Units ◽  
Surface Emg ◽  
Intrinsic Muscle ◽  
Single Motor Units ◽  
Abductor Digiti Minimi ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Ramp Contractions

The study analyzed the discharge characteristics of the motor units in an intrinsic muscle of a transplanted hand. Multichannel electromyographic (EMG) recordings were obtained in 11 experimental sessions over 16 mo starting from day 205 after a hand was transplanted in a 35-yr-old man who had lost his right hand 22 yr earlier. The action potentials discharged by single motor units were identified from the surface EMG signals of the abductor digiti minimi muscle in the transplanted hand as the individual performed 60-s maximal and linearly increasing (ramp) contractions. Discharge rate decreased from 27.1 ± 8.4 pulses per second (pps) at the start of the maximal contractions to 17.2 ± 2.9 pps at the end ( P < 0.001) and increased from 17.4 ± 4.3 to 22.1 ± 5.0 pps during the ramp contractions ( P < 0.05). The SD of the interspike interval (ISI) nearly related to the mean ISI with a similar regression slope for the maximal (0.49 ± 0.09) and ramp contractions (0.43 ± 0.10). The coefficient of variation for ISI was higher than values in able-bodied persons and did not change during either the maximal (36.8 ± 10.8%) or the ramp contractions (35.9 ± 7.4%). High-frequency bursts of activity with <20 ms between two and six action potentials occurred during both maximal and ramp contractions. In conclusion, motor neurons that reinnervated a muscle in a transplanted hand discharged action potentials with a high degree of variability that suggested greater synaptic noise during the voluntary contractions.

Organization of single motor units in feline sartorius

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 1885-1896 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Smits ◽  
P. K. Rose ◽  
T. Gordon ◽  
F. J. Richmond
Keyword(s):  
Motor Unit ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Motor Units ◽  
Single Motor Unit ◽  
Single Motor ◽  
Medial Head ◽  
Single Motor Units ◽  
Fast Twitch

1. We depleted single motor units in feline sartorius muscles of glycogen by stimulating their motoneurons intracellularly. We mapped the intramuscular distribution of depleted fibers by inspecting histological cross-sections throughout the length of sartorius. 2. We selected ten depleted motor units for detailed study and quantitative analysis. Nine motor units were located in the anterior head of sartorius. One was located in a muscle whose distal half appeared to have been damaged some time before the acute experiment. A single motor unit was located in the medial head of sartorius. 3. Five motor units were composed of fast-twitch glycolytic (FG) muscle fibers, two of fast-twitch oxidative glycolytic (FOG) muscle fibers, and three of slow-twitch oxidative (SO) muscle fibers. Estimates of the numbers of depleted fibers in motor units of anterior sartorius indicated that FG motor units were larger (mean 566 fibers) than FOG and SO motor units (SO mean 190, FOG mean 156 fibers). The SO motor unit in the damaged muscle had 550 fibers. One motor unit depleted in the medial head of sartorius had 270 fibers with FG profiles. 4. Muscle fibers belonging to each anterior motor unit were never distributed throughout the whole cross-section of anterior sartorius at any proximodistal level. Furthermore, fibers were distributed nonuniformly along the proximodistal axis of the muscle. In most muscles at least a few depleted fibers were found at all proximodistal levels. However, in one normal muscle and the damaged muscle, depleted fibers were confined to the proximal end. 5. The fibers in the medial motor unit were confined to a strip that did not extend across the whole cross-section of the muscle head. Fibers within this strip were scattered quite evenly from origin to insertion. This medial FG motor unit occupied a smaller territory and contained fewer fibers than anterior motor units of the same histochemical type. 6. These results show that sartorius motor units are not distributed uniformly in the mediolateral plane; those in anterior sartorius were distributed asymmetrically in the proximodistal axis as well. This finding has important functional implications for the way in which we model force development and transmission in sartorius and other long muscles.

MHC composition and enzyme-histochemical and physiological properties of a novel fast-twitch motor unit type

1991 ◽  
Vol 261 (1) ◽  
pp. C93-C101 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Larsson ◽  
L. Edstrom ◽  
B. Lindegren ◽  
L. Gorza ◽  
S. Schiaffino
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Tibialis Anterior Muscle ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Relaxation Times ◽  
Motor Units ◽  
Biochemical Properties ◽  
The Other ◽  
Glycogen Depletion ◽  
Single Motor Units ◽  
Fast Twitch

Determinations of fatigue ratio, twitch and tetanus tension, and contraction and half-relaxation times of the isometric twitch were made in 21 single fast-twitch motor units from the rat tibialis anterior muscle. Single motor units were functionally isolated by microdissection of the ventral root, and the glycogen depletion technique was used to demonstrate the muscle fibers in the unit. Morphological and immuno- and enzyme-histochemical methods were applied to serial muscle cross sections to characterize the muscle fibers in the unit. Three of the units had muscle fibers of the IIa type according to staining both for myofibrillar adenosinetriphosphatase after acid preincubation and with the use of monoclonal antibodies specific for myosin heavy chains (MHCs), i.e., the IIa-MHC isoform. The other 18 units were of the IIb type according to enzyme-histochemistry, but immunohistochemistry showed that in six of these units the muscle fibers exhibited the novel type IIx-MHC isoform and in the other 12 units the IIb-MHC isoform. It was found that the IIx motor units have contraction and half-relaxation times similar to those of types IIa and IIb units but have morphological, physiological, and biochemical properties that distinguish them from the latter two types.

scholarly journals The alpha-glucan-uridine diphosphate glucosyltransferase reation for the identification of glycogen-depleted muscle fibers.

1978 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 742-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
C W Pool ◽  
Y E Donselaar ◽  
P A Griep
Keyword(s):  
Periodic Acid ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Motor Units ◽  
Repetitive Stimulation ◽  
Uridine Diphosphate ◽  
Periodic Acid Schiff ◽  
Single Motor Units ◽  
Longus Muscle ◽  
Pas Reaction ◽  
Stimulation Of

This paper decribes the use of the alpha-glucan uridine di-phosphate glucosyl transferase reaction for enhancing the contrast between glycogen depleted and non-depleted muscle fibers in the periodic acid schiff (PAS) reaction. Muscle fiber glycogen was depleted by prolonged repetitive stimulation of single motor units of the extensor digitorum longus muscle from the rat.

The resilience of the size principle in the organization of motor unit properties in normal and reinnervated adult skeletal muscles

2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 645-661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tessa Gordon ◽  
Christine K Thomas ◽  
John B Munson ◽  
Richard B Stein
Keyword(s):  
Motor Unit ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Motor Units ◽  
Unit Size ◽  
Size Principle ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Size Dependent ◽  
Rate Coding ◽  
The Relationship

Henneman's size principle relates the input and output properties of motoneurons and their muscle fibers to size and is the basis for size-ordered activation or recruitment of motor units during movement. After nerve injury and surgical repair, the relationship between motoneuron size and the number and size of the muscle fibers that the motoneuron reinnervates is initially lost but returns with time, irrespective of whether the muscles are self- or cross-reinnervated by the regenerated axons. Although the return of the size relationships was initially attributed to the recovery of the cross-sectional area of the reinnervated muscle fibers and their force per fiber, direct enumeration of the innervation ratio and the number of muscle fibers per motoneuron demonstrated that a size-dependent branching of axons accounts for the size relationships in normal muscle, as suggested by Henneman and his colleagues. This same size-dependent branching accounts for the rematching of motoneuron size and muscle unit size in reinnervated muscles. Experiments were carried out to determine whether the daily amount of neuromuscular activation of motor units accounts for the size-dependent organization and reorganization of motor unit properties. The normal size-dependent matching of motoneurons and their muscle units with respect to the numbers of muscle fibers per motoneuron was unaltered by synchronous activation of all of the motor units with the same daily activity. Hence, the restored size relationships and rematching of motoneuron and muscle unit properties after nerve injuries and muscle reinnervation sustain the normal gradation of muscle force during movement by size-ordered recruitment of motor units and the process of rate coding of action potentials. Dynamic modulation of size of muscle fibers and their contractile speed and endurance by neuromuscular activity allows for neuromuscular adaptation in the context of the sustained organization of the neuromuscular system according to the size principle.Key words: motor unit size, motor unit recruitment, innervation ratio, reinnervation.

Properties of motor units of the frog iliofibularis muscle

1979 ◽  
Vol 236 (1) ◽  
pp. C35-C40 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. R. Luff ◽  
U. Proske
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Motor Units ◽  
Slow Muscle ◽  
Homogeneous Population ◽  
Single Motor Units ◽  
Litoria Aurea ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Low Incidence ◽  
Polyneuronal Innervation ◽  
Stimulation Of

The tension developed by single motor units of the iliofibularis muscle of the frog Litoria aurea was recorded in response to single-shock and repetitive stimulation of motor axons. The majority of units in each muscle, 13 on the average, were of the twitch type; an additional 4 units were slow or tonic. It appeared that slow units comprised a single homogeneous population, but two types of twitch units could be recognized: small fatigue-resistant units with long twitch times to peak (20--40 ms) and larger, fatigable units with briefer times to peak (16--27 ms). Evidence from a comparison of unit tetanic tensions indicated the presence of polyneuronal innervation of both slow and twitch muscle fibers. The relatively low incidence of polyneuronal innervation of twitch fibers in iliofibularis, when compared with a muscle like sartorius (9), was attributed to the difference in lengths of muscle fibers in the two muscles. It was argued that slow muscle fibers probably receive a multiterminal as well as polyneuronal innervation, with the terminals of any one axon lying widely spaced along the muscle fiber.

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