Elsevier

Experimental Neurology

Volume 26, Issue 1, January 1970, Pages 183-202
Experimental Neurology

Fast and slow mammalian muscles after denervation

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Abstract

The extensor digitorum longus and soleus muscles of the rat were denervated and the acetylcholine (ACh) sensitivity and electrical constants of these muscles were measured at various times up to 45 days. The miniature end-plate potentials were no longer detected at 20 and 24 hours after motor nerve section of soleus muscle and extensor muscle, respectively. Twenty-four hours after denervation extrajunctional ACh-sensitivity had appeared in the extensor and had increased in the soleus muscle fibers. At 48 hours, ACh-sensitivity appeared at the muscletendon region of the extensor muscle but was not detected in most fibers midway between the end-plate area and the tendon region. The ACh-sensitivity increased simultaneously along the fiber of the soleus muscle. The ACh-sensitivity along the fibers did not develop centrifugally and was not greater than at the end-plate region. The resting membrane potential of surface fibers had decreased about 10% 48 hours after denervation and decreased by about 15% 4 days after denervation. ACh-sensitivity appeared before there was a change in membrane resistance. The transverse resistance of a unit area (Rm) increased in the soleus muscle on the third day and in the extensor muscle on the fourth day after denervation.

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    The authors are grateful to Dr. M. L. Albuquerque for the computer calculation of the membrane electrical constants, and to Miss Käthe Koch for expert technical assistance. This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NB-08223 and NB-090661).

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