Cell proliferation in skeletal muscle following denervation or tenotomy. A series of autoradiographic studies.

Autoradiographic experiments using 3H-thymidine were designed to analyse cell proliferation which occurs in skeletal muscle after denervation and after tenotomy. In mouse tibialis anterior and tongue muscles during the first 24 h after denervation or tenotomy labelling levels were low and did not differ significantly from sham operated control muscles. By 48 h after denervation and tenotomy of tibialis anterior muscles, increased levels of labelling occurred in both muscle and connective tissue nuclei. Daily pulse labelling for 7 days after denervation produced a labelling level which was 8 times that of sham operated controls, 25--30% of the total nuclear population being labelled. Denervated muscles had twice the level of labelling compared to tenotomised muscles. These results provide conclusive evidence that both denervation and tenotomy stimulate cell proliferation in skeletal muscle and it is suggested that the increased numbers of labelled muscle nuclei are likely to be the result of mitotic activity in muscle satellite cells.