Self-reinnervated cat medial gastrocnemius muscles. I. comparisons of the capacity for regenerating nerves to form enlarged motor units after extensive peripheral nerve injuries.

1. The aims of this study are to determine 1) whether regenerating motor axons have the capacity to form enlarged motor units (MUs) in muscles reinnervated by few motoneurons and 2) whether the type of nerve injury, repair, and/or growth environment affects this capacity. 2. MU innervation ratio (IR) was estimated by measuring isometric unit tetanic force in reinnervated cat medial gastrocnemius muscles 3-16 mo after denervation by either 1) crushing its nerve, 2) transecting the nerve and suturing the proximal end to the distal stump (N-N suture), or 3) transecting the nerve and suturing the proximal end directly to the muscle fascia (N-M suture). In addition, the number of regenerating axons was experimentally reduced by cutting one of two contributing ventral roots. 3. Muscles were reinnervated by 2-88% of their normal complement of MUs. Mean unit tetanic force increased as the number of reinnervated MUs decreased in reinnervated muscles after nerve crush or N-N suture, but not after N-M suture, even when few axons made functional connections. When the number of MUs was < 20% of normal, mean unit force was significantly higher in reinnervated muscles after nerve crush compared with muscle reinnervated after N-N suture. 4. The cross-sectional areas (CSAs) of all muscle fiber types were similar to normal in reinnervated muscles after nerve crush, but the CSAs of type IIa and IIb fibers were significantly smaller in muscles reinnervated after complete nerve transections (i.e., N-N or N-M sutures). 5. When MU force was normalized to mean muscle fiber CSA, cut motor axons displayed the same capacity to form enlarged MUs as crushed motor axons. The force of the MUs increased by as much as 5-8 times that of normal, provided the axons grew along the distal nerve stump (N-N suture). 6. Tetanic force increased in the normal order slow < fast-fatigue resistant < fast-fatigue intermediate = fast-fatigable. However, the increase in tetanic force of the slow (S) units was significantly larger than the corresponding increase of the more forceful fast (F) units. The disproportional increase in S and not F unit force, was primarily due to a significant decline in CSA of the type IIa and IIb muscle fibers. 7. The technique of glycogen depletion was used to count MU fibers to estimate the IR of MUs in 5 normal and 11 reinnervated muscles (7 N-N sutures, 4 N-M sutures). Unit tetanic force covaried with IR in both normal and reinnervated muscles. 8. These results show that regenerating axons have the same capacity as intact axons in partially denervated muscles to form enlarged MUs to compensate for a reduced number of functioning MUs. Only when axons regenerate in the absence of the distal nerve sheath is this capacity compromised.