Motor units of the primary ankle extensor muscles of the opossum (Didelphis virginiana): functional properties and fiber types

Motor units of the medial gastrocnemius (MG) and the single lateral gastrocnemius/soleus (LG/S) muscles of the opossum (Didelphis virginiana) were found to have uniformly slow contraction times relative to homologous muscles of the cat. Though a broad range of peak tetanic tensions was found among motor units from both muscles, most of the motor units were quite large relative to tension of the whole muscle. Comparison of the relative sizes of motor units showed that those of LG/S are significantly larger and slower than the units of MG. This suggests that the motor units of the two muscles may be differentially recruited during different behaviors. All of the MG and LG/S motor units were highly or moderately resistant to fatigue. Histochemical staining for NADH-diaphorase activity indicated consistently high levels of the enzyme in all of the fibers of both muscles. Apparently, all of the fast motor units consist of fast oxidative/glycolytic (FOG)-type muscle fibers. Our data provide functional evidence that the types of myofibrillar ATPase demonstrated by Brooke and Kaiser ('70), are not necessarily correlated to physiological classification of fiber types as slow oxidative (SO), fast oxidative/glycolytic (FOG), and fast glycolytic (FG) (Peter et al., '72). Perhaps compartmentalization of muscle fiber types may be a first step in the separation of muscles into multiple heads during the evolution of specialization to diverse locomotor habits among the mammals.