scholarly journals Histochemistry of rat intrafusal muscle fibers and their motor innervation.

1978 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 973-988 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Kucera ◽  
K Dorovini-Zis ◽  
W K Engel
Keyword(s):  
Regional Differences ◽  
Motor Nerve ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Muscle Spindles ◽  
Sensory Innervation ◽  
Staining Reaction ◽  
Intrafusal Muscle ◽  
Intrafusal Muscle Fibers ◽  
Atpase Staining ◽  
Nuclear Bag

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.

scholarly journals FINE STRUCTURE OF RAT INTRAFUSAL MUSCLE FIBERS

1971 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
William K. Ovalle
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Fiber ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Muscle Spindles ◽  
Intrafusal Muscle ◽  
Dense Granules ◽  
Intrafusal Muscle Fibers ◽  
Sarcotubular System ◽  
Nuclear Chain ◽  
T System ◽  
Nuclear Bag

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.

Histochemical Identification of Three Types of Intrafusal Muscle Fibers in the Cat and Monkey Based on the Myosin ATPase Reaction

1972 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. K. Ovalle ◽  
R. S. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Frozen Section ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Muscle Spindles ◽  
Myosin Atpase ◽  
Stable Form ◽  
Intrafusal Muscle ◽  
Atpase Reaction ◽  
Intrafusal Muscle Fibers ◽  
Alkaline Conditions ◽  
Acid Stable

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.

scholarly journals Transcriptional regulation of myotube fate specification and intrafusal muscle fiber morphogenesis

2005 ◽  
Vol 169 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y'vonne Albert ◽  
Jennifer Whitehead ◽  
Laurie Eldredge ◽  
John Carter ◽  
Xiaoguang Gao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Signal Transduction ◽  
Muscle Fiber ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Sensory Innervation ◽  
Sensory Axon ◽  
Fate Specification ◽  
Intrafusal Muscle ◽  
Intrafusal Muscle Fibers ◽  
Intrafusal Muscle Fiber

Vertebrate muscle spindle stretch receptors are important for limb position sensation (proprioception) and stretch reflexes. The structurally complex stretch receptor arises from a single myotube, which is transformed into multiple intrafusal muscle fibers by sensory axon–dependent signal transduction that alters gene expression in the contacted myotubes. The sensory-derived signal transduction pathways that specify the fate of myotubes are very poorly understood. The zinc finger transcription factor, early growth response gene 3 (Egr3), is selectively expressed in sensory axon–contacted myotubes, and it is required for normal intrafusal muscle fiber differentiation and spindle development. Here, we show that overexpression of Egr3 in primary myotubes in vitro leads to the expression of a particular repertoire of genes, some of which we demonstrate are also regulated by Egr3 in developing intrafusal muscle fibers within spindles. Thus, our results identify a network of genes that are regulated by Egr3 and are involved in intrafusal muscle fiber differentiation. Moreover, we show that Egr3 mediates myotube fate specification that is induced by sensory innervation because skeletal myotubes that express Egr3 independent of other sensory axon regulation are transformed into muscle fibers with structural and molecular similarities to intrafusal muscle fibers. Hence, Egr3 is a target gene that is regulated by sensory innervation and that mediates gene expression involved in myotube fate specification and intrafusal muscle fiber morphogenesis.

Intrafusal muscle fibers of duck muscle spindles

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

scholarly journals Physiological Signs of the Activation of Bag2 and Chain Intrafusal Muscle Fibers of Gastrocnemius Muscle Spindles in the Cat

1998 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Taylor ◽  
P. H. Ellaway ◽  
R. Durbaba
Keyword(s):  
Gastrocnemius Muscle ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Muscle Spindles ◽  
Fiber Types ◽  
Dominant Type ◽  
Intrafusal Muscle ◽  
Chance Distribution ◽  
Intrafusal Fibers ◽  
Intrafusal Muscle Fibers ◽  
Prolonged Response

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.

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