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Distribution of skeletofusimotor axons in lumbrical muscles of the monkey

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Summary

The nerve supply to 25 poles of muscle spindles in the monkey was reconstructed by light microscopy of serial 1-μm thick transverse sections of lumbrical muscles. Twenty of 60 motor axons that supplied the spindle poles were identified as skeletofusimotor (β). Twenty-eight percent of the spindle poles were innervated by β axons, in addition to γ axons. Every β-innervated spindle pole transected an endplate zone of extrafusal muscle. Most β axons coinnervated extrafusal fibers rich in mitochondria and the nuclear bag1 or nuclear chain intrafusal fibers. All but two β axons innervated one type of intrafusal fiber only. The intramuscular organization of β motor system in lumbrical muscles of the monkey was similar to that of the cat tenuissimus muscle. The function of β-innervated spindles may be preferentially to monitor mechanical disturbances arising from the activity of extrafusal muscle units with which they share motor innervation.

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  1. Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Boston University, 80 East Concord Street, Boston, MA, USA

    Jan Kucera

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Kucera, J. Distribution of skeletofusimotor axons in lumbrical muscles of the monkey. Anat Embryol 173, 95–104 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00707307

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