Effects of cross-suture and of injected acetylcholine on the supersensitivity of denervated striated muscle.

The sensitivity of the tongue muscles to acetylcholine was examined in repeated experiments on cats anaesthetized with hexobarbitone. The supersensitivity which developed after section of the hypoglossal nerve was found to decrease when the muscles, after cross-suture, became re-innervated from the vagus or the chorda-lingual nerve. The supersensitivity caused by denervation could also be reduced by injecting acetylcholine repeatedly during six hours in acute experiments.