Summary
Cat tenuissmus muscles were deprived of motor nerve supply for three months by sectioning of the appropriate ventral spinal roots. Muscle spindles were located in the chronically de-efferented muscles and examined histochemically in serial transverse sections. Staining for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide tetrazolium reductase showed that the spindle sensory innervation was preserved. The de-efferented intrafusal muscle fibers retained their differential staining with the reaction for myosin adenosine triphosphatase. However, all cholinesterase-active areas that are normally found along nuclear bag and nuclear chain intrafusal fibers demonstrated loss of the enzyme activity in the chronically de-efferented spindles. It is concluded that all histochemically demonstrable cholinesterase activity within the cat muscle spindle is dependent upon the continuous presence of motor innervation.
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Kucera, J. Examination of chronically de-efferented cat muscle spindles for cholinesterase activity. Histochemistry 73, 625–634 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00493374
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00493374