Abstract
Leg muscles of the monkey have been studied following partial denervation produced by surgical elimination of from 25 to 90 per cent of the axons entering the sciatic nerve from the lumbosacral plexus. The investigation included observations on function, rate and degree of muscle atrophy, and neurohistological appearance of the affected muscles. In most of the cases, from 83 to 90 per cent of the residual nerve fibers in the peroneal and tibial nerves were destroyed and a severe paresis of the leg muscles was produced. No functional improvement was noted up to 160 days after operation, and the affected muscles became markedly atrophic. Histological examination of these muscles failed to reveal more than sporadic collateral regeneration of the residual axons. In two cases 50 and 75 per cent of the peroneal and tibial nerve fibers remained intact 63 and 200 days, respectively, after operation. The legs operated upon in these cases functioned almost normally and all muscles weighed within 11 per cent of those of the contralateral, normal leg. Histological study and counts of end-plate: nerve fiber ratios showed that many residual axons had regenerated collateral branches which entered denervated end-plates. Collateral regeneration was incomplete, however, and many end-plates remained without innervation. These results indicate that residual axons in paretic muscles of a primate do not regenerate collaterally as readily as do those of other previously studied mammals.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (843.0 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Carey E. J. Studies on ameboid motion of motor nerve plates: II. Pathologic effects of co(2) and electricity on the explosive ameboid motion in motor nerve plates in intercostal muscle. Am J Pathol. 1942 Mar;18(2):237–289. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- EDDS M. V., Jr Experiments on partially deneurotized nerves; absence of branching of residual fibers. J Exp Zool. 1949 Jul;111(2):211–226. doi: 10.1002/jez.1401110205. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- FREDERICK J. N., KOSMAN A. J. Effect of neurotripsy on the partially denervated muscle of the dog. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1948 Dec;69(3):605–607. doi: 10.3181/00379727-69-16802. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- KOSMAN A. J., WOOD E. C., OSBORNE S. L. Effect of electrical stimulation upon atrophy of partially denervated skeletal muscle of the rat. Am J Physiol. 1948 Sep 1;154(3):451–454. doi: 10.1152/ajplegacy.1948.154.3.451. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]