Transient Expression Of A Slow-tonic Mhc Isoform By Extrafusal Fibers In The Developing Rat
Anatomy & Morphology; denervation; Developmental Biology; diversity; extrafusal fibers; intrafusal fibers; intrafusal muscle-fibers; monoclonal-antibody; motor innervation; muscle; myosin heavy-chain; neonatal rats; skeletal-muscle; slow-tonic myosin; spindles
ALD 19, a monoclonal antibody that recognizes the slow-tonic myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoform, has been used extensively as a marker for nuclear bag intrafusal fibers of muscle spindles in developing and adult rats. Extrafusal fibers of adult rat hindlimb muscles do not express slow-tonic MHC. However, while using ALD 19 to trace the fate of intrafusal fibers following neonatal denervation, we noted that some extrafusal fibers of neonates also bound this antibody. The immunolabeled extrafusal fibers were a subset of slow fibers located in the deep axial regions of crural muscles. The same fiber subset transiently displayed a weak affinity for ALD 19 during the first postnatal week in normal muscles. Denervation at birth increased the intensity of ALD 19 immunolabelling by these extrafusal fibers and extended the duration of the slow-tonic immunoreactivity into the 2nd postnatal week, after which expression diminished or ceased. Demonstration that some developing extrafusal fibers have a nerve-independent capacity for transiently expressing slow-tonic MHC, an MHC previously thought to be expressed only by intrafusal fibers, raises the possibility that both types of fiber originate from a subset of bipotential slow primary myotubes in rat hindlimbs.
Kucera J; Walro J M
Anatomy and Embryology
1993
1993-10
Journal Article or Conference Abstract Publication
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/bf00185950" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1007/bf00185950</a>
Slow-tonic Mhc Expression In Paralyzed Hindlimbs Of Fetal Rats
Cell Biology; heavy-chain isoforms; innervation; intrafusal muscle-fibers; numbers; spindles
Whether nerve activity and active contraction of myotubes are essential for the assembly and initial differentiation of muscle spindles was investigated by paralyzing fetal rats with tetrodotoxin (TTX) from embryonic day 16 (E16) to E21, prior to and during the period when spindles typically form. TTX-treated soleus muscles were examined by light and electron microscopy for the presence of spindles and expression of myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms by the intrafusal fibers. Treatment with TTX did not inhibit the formation of a spindle capsule or the expression of a slow-tonic MHC isoform characteristic of intrafusal fibers, but did retard development of spindles. Spindles of TTX-treated E21 muscles usually consisted of one intrafusal fiber (bag2) only rather than two fibers (bag1 and bag2) typically present in untreated (control) E21 spindles. Intrafusal fibers of TTX-treated spindles also had only one sensory region supplied by multiple afferents, and were devoid of motor innervation. These features are characteristic of spindles in normal E18-E19 muscles. Thus, nerve and/or muscle activity is not essential for the assembly of muscle spindles, formation of a spindle capsule, and transformation of undifferentiated myotubes into the intrafusal fibers containing spindle-specific myosin isoforms. However, activity may promote the maturation of intrafusal bundles, as well as the maturation of afferent and efferent nerve supplies to intrafusal fibers.
Kucera J; Walro J M
Histochemistry
1991
1991
Journal Article or Conference Abstract Publication
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/bf00266761" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1007/bf00266761</a>