SYNCHRONIZATION OF SPONTANEOUS ACTIVITY IN DENERVATED HUMAN MUSCLE

Abstract

If mammalian muscle is deprived of its nerve supply, no spontaneous activity can be observed for several days. After that period spontaneous contraction of individual muscle fibers sets in, and may persist for a year or longer unless nerve regeneration occurs or the contractile muscle tissue disappears.¹ This activity is not visible through the skin. Visible movements of groups of muscle fibers are always associated with the discharge of at least one motor nerve impulse.² To our knowledge, there has not been described in the literature a case of spontaneous synchronized activity of muscle fibers in a completely denervated muscle. Such a case, in which absence of innervation could be ascertained by various methods, has been under observation for several months at an Army general hospital. REPORT OF A CASE Clinical History. —A white man aged 24 entered the hospital Sept. 10, 1943, because of paralysis of the