Development of homogeneous fast and slow motor units in the neonatal mouse soleus muscle

We studied the fiber type composition and contractile properties of mouse soleus motor units at 2 days, 5 days and 2 weeks of age. We used Lucifer Yellow injection to mark muscle fibers belonging to the same motor unit in the two youngest age groups, and the traditional method of glycogen depletion in the oldest. The age groups were chosen because 2 days is at the end of muscle fiber production; 5 days is at the start of synapse elimination in the muscle and 2 weeks is at the end. Muscle fibers were classified as fast (F) or slow (S) on the basis of their myosin heavy chain (MHC) content, as determined by different monoclonal antibodies. Motor units are already dominated by either F- or S-fibers at 2 days, suggesting an early preferential innervation of the two types of fibers. A substantial part of the remaining refinement of the innervation takes place during the next 3 days, while the total number of terminals in the muscle remains constant. This is most easily explained by an exchange of aberrant for correct synapses during this period. A smaller part of the refinement of the innervation occurs during the subsequent period of synapse elimination.     

Impairment of human soleus motor units during ischemia

It is generally accepted that ischemia produced by limb compression affects rapidly conducting large-diameter Ia afferents in the early stage and that the motor nerve-muscle complex is blocked later. This notion, however, seems to be controversial for several reasons, so an attempt to reveal the amount of motor unit (MU) impairment during ischemia was made. Observation of human soleus muscle electromyographic (EMG) signal recorded either by bipolar needle electrode or by surface electrodes at various levels of voluntary contraction during the course of ischemia showed that low-threshold small MUs were affected first while high-threshold large MUs survived longer. The changes in EMG patterns were temporally correlated with T-reflex deterioration. It is suggested that the early loss of low-threshold MUs may play a definite role in alterations of reflexes during ischemia.     

Populations of motor units of the human soleus muscle supplying H reflex generation: Electrophysiological analysis

Variations in the amplitude of H and M responses of them. soleus related to the variation in intensity of stimulation of then. tibialis comm. were evaluated in five persons with different ratios of the maximum H and maximum M response amplitudes (from 0.27 to 0.75). A decrease in amplitude of the H reflex accompanied by an increase of M response is supposed to be determined by collision of ortho- and antidromically conducted spikes in motoneuronal axons; this makes it possible to quantify the participation of various motoneuronal populations differing in activation thresholds of their axons in H reflex generation. The H response in individuals with a low ratio of the maximum H and M response amplitudes was shown to be due primarily to the involvement of high-threshold motoneurons. When the ratio between the above-mentioned maximum EMG potentials was high, all populations of motoneurons, except very low-threshold ones, participated in the H reflex generation. In all cases, only a portion of high-threshold motoneurons was involved in H activity, which contradicts the so-called size principle.Neirofiziologiya/Neurophysiology, Vol. 25, No. 6, pp. 417–420, November–December, 1993.     

The relationship between post-tetanic potentiation of motor units and myosin isoforms in mouse soleus muscle

Post-tetanic potentiation was measured in motor units, isolated functionally by ventral root splitting, of soleus and extensor digitorum longus muscles of mouse. All motor units from the extensor digitorum longus had times to peak twitch tension less than 13 ms; there was a linear relationship between time to peak tension and post-tetanic potentiation, with the faster units exhibiting greater potentiation. When soleus motor units were similarly analyzed, it appeared that there may be two distinct populations of units. Those units with times to peak tension less than 13 ms were virtually indistinguishable from those of extensor digitorum longus. On the other hand, the slope of the relationship between post-tetanic potentiation and time to peak tension was significantly lower for soleus units with times to peak tension of 13 ms or more. Approximately three-quarters of the soleus units were of the latter slow type, whereas only one-half of the muscle fibres could be classified as type I by means of immunohistochemistry, suggesting that the myosin heavy chain may not be the major determinant of post-tetanic potentiation. Single, chemically skinned fibres of soleus were analyzed for myosin heavy and light chain components by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. All fibres with type I heavy chain contained only the two slow light chains. On the other hand, almost all of the fibres with type IIA myosin heavy chain contained both fast and slow light chains. It is suggested that the discrepancy between the proportions of physiologically "fast" motor units and histochemical type IIA fibres may be the consequence of variable amounts of slow light chain associated with the fast IIA myosin heavy chain.     

Effects of artificial support stimulation on fiber and molecular characteristics of soleus muscle in men exposed to 7-day dry immersion

Artificial support stimulation is known to attenuate or prevent many motor or skeletal muscle effects of actual or simulated microgravity. The present study was purposed to analyze the effects of artificial support on human soleus fibers after 7-day exposure to supportless environment. 8 healthy male volunteers were exposed to dry immersion in supine position for 7 days according to Shulzhenko and Vil-Villiams (1972). 4 of them worn the support device which provided them with plantar stimulation in regime described elsewhere.     

Types of activity of skeletal muscle motor units during cold tremor in cats

Discharges of 184 motor units of the sartorius muscle functioning during cold tremor were investigated in acute experiments on anesthetized cats. Units whose discharges correlated with respiration cycles and units functionally independent of the rhythm of respiration were discovered. Discharges of both types of motor units possessed the same mean frequency (4–12 spikes/sec) and the same low variability of interspike intervals. Additional temperature stimulation of the vascular temperature receptors and changes in the frequency and depth of the respiratory excursions during cold tremor evoked identical responses in the two types of units. It is concluded that both types of motor units have similar thresholds and are of the slow, phasic type.O. V. Kuusinen State University, Petrozavodsk. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 355–361, July–August, 1979.     

Physiological characteristics of motor units in the brachioradialis muscle across fatiguing low-level isometric contractions.

The purpose of this study was to determine (i) if decomposition-based quantitative electromyography (DQEMG) could detect changes in motor unit potential (MUP) morphology and motor unit (MU) firing pattern statistics associated with muscle fatigue, (ii) if any detected changes are correlated with surface electromyographic (SEMG) signs of fatigue, and (iii) if significant fatigue-dependent changes are repeatable within individuals. Mean MU firing rates and the morphology of MUPs detected using needle and surface electrodes during constant-torque isometric contractions held until exhaustion were investigated in the brachioradialis (BR) muscle in 10 healthy volunteers (mean age=28.6 yr, SD+/-3.9). Time dependant changes were investigated using an analysis of variance with normalized time as a main effect. Partial correlation coefficients were computed using a repeated measures analysis of covariance to determine if changes in MU firing rates, needle-detected MUPs and surface-detected MUPs (SMUPs) were related to changes in SEMG signal amplitude and frequency parameters. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to determine the within-subject repeatability of changes in MU firing rates, and MUP and SMUP parameters. Significant decreases in mean MU firing rates were found along with significant increases in various duration and area related parameters in both MUPs and SMUPs across the fatiguing contraction. The SEMG signal demonstrated the expected changes with fatigue: an increase in amplitude and a decrease in frequency content. SEMG amplitude was significantly positively correlated with SMUP peak-to-peak voltage (r=0.85, p<0.05), and SMUP area (r=0.86, p<0.05). Mean power frequency was significantly negatively correlated with SMUP negative peak duration (r=-0.74, p<0.05). The significant time-dependent changes were reliably observed (ICCs were 0.94 for MUP peak to peak amplitude, 0.97 for MUP area and 0.95 for MUP area to amplitude ratio, 0.95 for SMUP peak-to-peak voltage, 0.83 for SMUP area, 0.99 for SMUP negative peak amplitude and 0.88 for SMUP negative peak area). The decreases in mean MU firing rates measured along with the increases in amplitude, duration and area parameters of MUPs and SMUPs and their partial correlation with SEMG amplitude during submaximal fatiguing contractions of the BR, suggest that recruitment is a main cause of increased SEMG amplitude parameters with fatigue. We conclude that DQEMG can be effectively and reliably used to detect changes in physiological characteristics of MUs that accompany fatigue.