Size-related differences in the branching pattern of the motor nerve terminals in triangularis sterni muscle of the mouse

A light microscopy morphometric study was performed in singly innervated synaptic areas of the triangularis sterni muscle of the normal adult Swiss mouse. Investigating mechanisms of the motor nerve growth control, we tested the hypothesis that significant differences in the nerve terminal branching pattern can be detected between different populations of nerve endings classified according to their arborization complexity or size. The main observations of this morphometric study are first, that the mean segment length of the terminal arborization between branch points behaves as an independent variable from the remaining parameters; the mean value of this parameter did not change in nerve endings of differing size and complexity. Secondly, the increase in size of the nerve endings is accompanied by a significant reduction in the mean length of the distal free-end segments. Results are discussed in the context of the possible regulatory mechanisms governing nerve terminal growth and remodelling.