Presence in chicken tibialis anterior and extensor digitorum longus muscle spindles of reactive and unreactive intrafusal fibers after incubation with monoclonal antibodies against myosin heavy chains.

Cross and longitudinal sections from the encapsulated portions of chicken tibialis anterior and extensor digitorum longus muscle spindles were examined to determine whether their intrafusal fibers were a structurally homogeneous or heterogeneous population. The techniques used were the histochemical actomyosin (mATPase) reaction, and fluorescence immunohistochemistry employing two monoclonal antibodies, CA-83 and CCM-52, that are specific for myosin heavy chains. After incubation with antibody CCM-52, intrafusal fibers fluoresced either strongly or weakly to moderately. Antibody CA-83 was even more selective. In addition to identifying the strongly reactive category, it clearly separated the remaining fibers into unreactive and moderately reactive groups. As a whole, after incubation for mATPase, pH 9.6 preincubation, unreactive fibers stained darker than strongly reactive fibers. Moreover, the cross-sectional area of the unreactive fibers was significantly larger than that of the strongly reactive fibers. In the average-size muscle spindle with six intrafusal fibers, there were four unreactive fibers and two strongly reactive fibers. In about one-third of the receptors examined, one moderately reactive fiber was present. Taken together, the data indicate that intrafusal fibers of chicken tibialis anterior and extensor digitorum longus muscles are not structurally homogeneous. The observed variations can be better explained in terms of different fiber types than of continuous gradients within one type of fiber.