Summary
Cat muscle spindles were examined histochemically in serial transverse sections of tenuissimus muscles stained for ATPase, NADH-TR and ChE alternating sequentially. Motor nerve terminals on nuclear bag1, bag2 and nuclear chain intrafusal muscle fibers were identified in periodic sections stained for ChE. Intrafusal fiber regions that carried ChE-active areas were then examined in staining for NADH-TR. The motor endings on the three types of intrafusal fiber differed in their apparent histochemical content of both ChE and NADH-TR. The observations suggest that functional differences may exist among motor nerve terminals on the various intrafusal fiber types.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Banks RW (1981) A histological study of the motor innervation of the cat's muscle spindle. J Anat (in press)
Banks RW, Barker D, Stacey MJ (1981) Structural aspects of fusimotor effects on spindle sensitivity. In: Taylor A, Prochazka A (eds) Muscle receptors and movement. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 5–16
Banks RW, Harker DW, Stacey MJ (1977) A study of mammalian intrafusal muscle fibers using a combined histochemical and ultrastructural technique. J Anat 123:783–796
Barker D (1974) The morphology of muscle receptors. In: Hunt CC (ed) Muscle receptors. Handbook of sensory physiology, vol III/2. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 1–190
Barker, D, Bessou P, Jankowska, E, Pagès B, Stacey, MJ (1978) Identification of intrafusal muscle fibers activated by single fusimotor axons and injected with fluorescent dye in cat tenuissimus spindles. J Physiol 275:149–165
Barker D, Stacey MJ, Adal MN (1970) Fusimotor innervation in the cat. Philos Trans R Soc Lond Ser B 258:315–346
Barnard EA, Rogers AW (1967) Determination of the number, distribution and some in situ properties of cholinesterase molecules in the motor end plate, using labelled inhibitor methods. Ann N Y Acad Sci 144:584–612
Boyd IA (1962) The structure and innervation of the nuclear bag muscle fiber system and the nuclear chain muscle fiber system in mammalian muscle spindles. Philos Trans R Soc Lond Ser B 245:81–136
Boyd IA (1976a) The response of fast and slow nuclear bag fibers and nuclear chain fibers in isolated cat muscle spindles to fusimotor stimulation, and the effect of intrafusal contraction on the sensory endings. Q J Exp Physiol 61:203–254
Boyd IA (1976b) The mechanical properties of dynamic nuclear bag fibers, static nuclear bag fibers and nuclear chain fibers in isolated cat spindles. Prog Brain Res 44:33–49
Boyd IA, Gladden MH, McWilliam PN, Ward J (1977) Control of dynamic and static nuclear bag fibers and nuclear chain fibers by gamma and beta axons in isolated cat muscle spindles. J Physiol 265:133–162
Brooke MH, Engel WK (1966) Nitro blue tetrazolium: Selective binding within striated muscle fibers. Neurology 16:799–806
Buckley GA, Heaton J (1968) A quantitative study of cholinesterase in myoneural junctions from rat and guinea-pig extraocular muscles. J Physiol 199:743–749
Buckley GA, Heaton J (1971) Cholinesterase activity of myoneural junctions from twitch and tonic muscles of the domestic fowl. Nature (New Biol) 231:154–155
Coërs C, Durand J (1956) Données morphologiques nouvelles sur l'innervation des fuseaux neuromusculaires. Arch Biol (Liège) 67:685–715
Emonet-Dénand F, Laporte Y (1974) Blôcage neuromusculaire sélectif des jonctions extrafusales des axones squeletto-fusimoteurs produit par leur stimulation répétitive à fréquence élevée. C R Acad Sci Ser D (Paris) 279:2083–2085
Emonet-Dénand F, Laporte Y (1975) Proportion of muscle spindles supplied by skeletofusimotor axons (β-axons) in peroneus brevis muscle of the cat. J Neurophysiol 38:1390–1394
Gladden MH (1981) The activity of intrafusal muscle fibers during central stimulation in the cat. In: Taylor A, Prochazka A (eds) Muscle receptors and movement. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 109–122
Guth L, Samaha FJ (1970) Procedure for the histochemical demonstration of actomyosin ATPase. Exp Neurol 28:365–367
Ip MC (1974) Some morphological features of the myoneural junctions in certain normal muscles of the rat. Anat Rec 180:605–616
Kucera J (1980a) Motor nerve terminals of cat nuclear chain fibers studied by the cholinesterase technique. Neuroscience 5:403–411
Kucera J (1980b) Motor innervation of the cat muscle spindle studied by the cholinesterase technique. Histochemistry 67:291–309
Kucera J (1980c) Histochemical study of long nuclear chain fibers in the cat muscle spindle. Anat Rec 198:567–580
Kucera J (1981a) Morphometric studies on tenuissimus muscle spindles in the cat. J Morphol 171 (in press)
Kucera J (1981b) Examination of chronically de-efferented cat muscle spindles for cholinesterase activity. Histochemistry 73:625–634
Lannergren J, Smith RS (1966) Types of muscle fibers in toad skeletal muscle. Acta Physiol Scand 68:263–274
Lehrer GM, Ornstein L (1959) A diazo coupling method for the electron microscopic localization of cholinesterase. J Biophys Biochem Cytol 6:399–406
Leksell L (1945) The action potential and excitatory effects of the small ventral root fibers to skeletal muscles. Acta Physiol Scand 10 (Suppl 31):1–84
Novikoff AB, Shin W, Drucker JC (1961) Mitochondrial localization of oxidative enzymes: staining results with two tetrazolium salts. J Biophys Biochem Cytol 9:47–61
Ovalle WK, Smith RS (1972) Histochemical identification of three types of intrafusal muscle fibers in the cat and monkey based on the myosin ATPase reaction. Can J Physiol Pharmacol 50:195–202
Padykula HA, Gauthier GF (1970) The ultrastructure of the neuromuscular junctions of mammalian red, white, and intermediate skeletal muscle fibers. J Cell Biol 46:27–41
Peter JB, Barnard RS, Edgerton VR, Gilespie CA, Stempel KE (1972) Metabolic profiles of three fiber types of skeletal muscle in guinea-pigs and rabbits. Biochemistry 11:2623–2637
Waerhaug O, Korneliussen H (1974) Morphological types of motor nerve terminals in rat hindlimb muscles, possibly innervating different muscle fiber types. Z Anat Entwickl Gesch 144:237–247
Wong YC, Ip MC (1978) Structural differences of pale and strongly stained motor end-plates of the rat diaphragm. Am J Anat 152:529–538
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kucera, J. Comparison of motor endings of the cat's muscle spindle stained for NADH-tetrazolium reductase and cholinesterase. Histochemistry 74, 95–106 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00495055
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00495055