Neomyogenesis in neonatally de-efferented and postnatally denervated rat muscle spindles

Abstract

The ultrastructure of muscle spindles de-efferented by the extirpation of the lumbosacral spinal cord at the age of 2 days and subsequently deprived of their sensory innervation by the section of the sciatic nerve at 3-4 weeks of age was studied in serial sections of 2-month-old rat hindlimb muscles. De-efferentation leaves the primary sensory neurons and their peripheral axons intact and capable of inducing the muscle spindle morphogenesis during the critical period of their development. In de-efferented and subsequently denervated muscle spindles, new supernumerary intrafusal muscle profiles (SIPs) appeared in the muscle spindle A region. They were formed in intimate spatial relation with the original intrafusal muscle fibres (IMFs) predominantly from activated satellite cells derived from both nuclear bag (larger diameter) and nuclear chain fibres. SIPs, however, lacked the typical nuclear accumulations, as well as other ultrastructural distinctions present in control IMFs. The majority of differentiated SIPs separated from original IMFs, whereas the less differentiated SIPs were usually closely apposed to the surface of the parent IMFs and both were covered by the common basal lamina. In some spindles, the original IMFs and/or new SIPs at different stages of their differentiation were found together and they formed clusters of variable shape and composition. In the majority of clusters, all profiles seemed to be isolated along their entire length, although in few clusters, occasional cytoplasmic connections of variable length between intrafusal profiles were found. This result is important for the interpretation of the forthcoming study of expression of muscle spindle-specific myosin heavy chain isoforms in denervated SIPs in rat muscle spindles gradually deprived of their motor and sensory innervation.