Skip to main content
Log in

The localization of axon branchings in two muscle nerves of the rat

A contribution to motor unit topography

  • Published:
Anatomy and Embryology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

The distribution of fiber branching in the proximal intramuscular motor nerves of the gracilis and gastrocnemius muscles of the rat was studied in whole-mount preparations of teased nerves. Branchings of nerve fibers were clustered at fascicular divisions. Such concurrence of fascicular and fiber branchings determines the dispersion of the single muscle fibers belonging to a motor unit. The distribution of fiber branching reveals the wiring pattern of muscle fibers. These patterns differed for the gracilis and gastrocnemtus muscles in correspondence with their functional organization.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adal MN, Barker D (1965) Intramuscular branching of fusimotor fibres. J Physiol (Lond) 177:288–299

    Google Scholar 

  • Beuche W, Friede RL (1985) A new approach toward analyzing peripheral nerve fiber populations. II. Foreshortening of regenerated internodes corresponds to reduced sheath thickness. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 44:73–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Bray D (1973) Branching patterns of individual sympathetic neurons in culture. J Cell Biol 56:702–712

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown MC, Holland RL, Hopkins WG (1981) Motor nerve sprouting. Ann Rev Neurosci 4:17–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Coers C, Woolf AL (1959) The innervation of muscle, a biopsy study. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper S (1929) The relation of active to inactive fibres in fractional contraction of muscle. J Physiol (Lond) 67:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Cragg BG, Thomas PK (1964) The conduction velocity of regenerated peripheral nerve fibres. J Physiol (Lond) 171:164–175

    Google Scholar 

  • Eccles JC, Sherrington CS (1930) Numbers and contraction-values of individual motor-units examined in some muscles of the limb. Proc R Soc Lond (Biol) 106:326–357

    Google Scholar 

  • Edström L, Kugelberg E (1968) Histochemical composition, distribution of fibres and fatiguability of single motor units. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 31:424–433

    Google Scholar 

  • Feindel W (1954) Anatomical overlap of motor-units. J Comp Neurol 101:1–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Geinisman Y, Shipley MT (1983) Flat whole-mount nerve preparations: A useful tool for studying the process of regenerating axon outgrowth. J Neurosci Methods 9:205–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiscoe HB (1947) Distribution of nodes and incisures in normal and regenerated nerve fibres. Anat Rec 99:447–475

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs JM, Cavanagh JB (1969) Species differences in internode formation following two types of peripheral nerve injury. J Anat 105:295–306

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarcho LW, Eyzaguirre C, Berman B, Lilienthal JL Jr (1952) Spread of excitation in skeletal muscle: Some factors contributing to the form of the electromyogram. Am J Physiol 168:446–457

    Google Scholar 

  • Krnjević K, Miledi R (1958) Motor units in the rat diaphragm. J Physiol (Lond) 140:427–439

    Google Scholar 

  • Letourneau PC (1975) Possible roles for cell-to-substratum adhesion in neuronal morphogenesis. Dev Biol 44:77–91

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakai J (1960) Studies on the mechanism determining the course of nerve fibers in tissue culture. II. The mechanism of fasciculation. Z Zellforsch 52:427–449

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakai J (1963) Isolated single sensory nerve fibers. Okajimas Folia Anat Jpn 39:1–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Speidel CC (1942) Studies of living nerves. VII. Growth adjustment of cutaneous terminal arborizations. J Comp Neurol 76:57–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Stålberg E, Schwartz MS, Thiele B, Schiller HH (1976) The normal motor unit in man. J Neurol Sci 27:291–301

    Google Scholar 

  • Swadlow HA, Kocsis JD, Waxman SG (1980) Modulation of impulse conduction along the axonal tree. Annu Rev Biophys Bioeng 9:143–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Thiel W (1957) Morphologische Ergebnisse an einzelnen markhaltigen Nervenfasern und ihre funktionelle Bedeutung. Acta Anat (Basel) 31:156–192

    Google Scholar 

  • Vizoso AD, Young JZ (1948) Internode length and fibre diameter in developing and regenerating nerves. J Anat 82:110–134

    Google Scholar 

  • Willison RG (1980) Arrangement of muscle fibers of a single motor unit in mammalian muscles. Muscle Nerve 3:360–361

    Google Scholar 

  • Wray SH (1969) Innervation ratios for large and small limb muscles in the baboon. J Comp Neurol 137:227–250

    Google Scholar 

  • Zenker W (1964) Internodienlängen und Faserkaliber der terminalen Verlaufsstrecke motorischer Fasern der äußeren Augenmuskeln und des M. thyreoarytaenoideus des Rhesusaffen. Z Zellforsch 62:531–545

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

This study was supported by grant Fr 609/1 from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pfeiffer, G., Friede, R.L. The localization of axon branchings in two muscle nerves of the rat. Anat Embryol 172, 177–182 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00319600

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00319600

Key words

Navigation