Ultrastructural duality of extrafusal fibers in a slow (tonic) skeletal muscle

Summary

Ultrastructural and stereological assessment of the mature avian anterior latissimus dorsi (ALD) muscle showed that it contains two kinds of extrafusal fibers. This fine structural dichotomy of fiber types in the ALD correlated well with their previously reported histochemical duality. Distinct differences occur in sarcomere banding, myofibrillar area, sarcotubular and mitochondrial density, and in morphology of motor-nerve terminals. Both myofiber types in this muscle were interpreted as representing varieties of “slow” or tonic muscle fibers.

Both fibers contain myofibrils that, despite differences in cross-sectional area, were large, irregular, and ribbon-shaped, typical of the “Felderstruktur” appearance of true “slow” fibers. Whereas the majority of fibers (type-1) are devoid of well-defined M-bands, the minor fiber population (type-2) exhibit prominent M-bands in the center of each sarcomere. In addition, type-1 tonic fibers contain a significantly lower mitochondrial and sarcotubular volume than the tonic fibers of type-2. While both fiber types exhibit motor-nerve terminals that are small, smooth and punctate in appearance, those on the type2 fibers often had a number of shallow postjunctional folds. Whether or not these two classes of extrafusal fiber in this muscle represent two separate and distinct types of motor units remains to be determined functionally.