A study of motor nerve terminals on cat nuclear bag1 intrafusal muscle fibers using the ChE staining technique

Abstract

Muscle spindles were traced in serial transverse sections of cat tenuissimus muscles. Histochemical staining for “myofibrillar” adenosine 5′-triphosphatase was employed to identify nuclear bag₁ intrafusal muscle fibers. Staining for cholinesterases (ChE) was used to demonstrate the termination sites of motor axons along the fibers. Several types of ChE deposits could be distinguished along the bag₁ fibers based on intensity of staining and morphological characteristics. Most ChE deposits could be classified as either the “pale” or the “nonpale” plates. Some ChE active areas fitted neither of these two categories. Among 328 ChE “plates” encountered on 192 bag₁ fiber poles, 197 (60%) were of the “pale” and 27(8%) of the “nonpale” type with 104(32%) remaining unclassified. These histochemical observations are discussed with regard to the current structural and functional concepts of motor innervation of the nuclear bag₁ fiber. It is suggested that the histochemical (ChE staining intensity) and morphological (length and form) characteristics of bag₁ fiber motor endings are not determined solely by the nature of the corresponding motor axons.