The free autografting of entire limb muscles in the cat: morphology.

Normal or pre-denervated extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles were sucessfully grafted in place of the contralateral EDL muscles in cats. Histological preparations of 57 grafts were examined at intervals from 4 to 170 days after transplantation. The morphological sequence of events in a cat muscle graft is similar to that in the rat except that the time course of regeneration is considerably slower. Surviving original muscle fibers form a thin rim at the periphery of the graft. Beneath this rim, the original muscle fibers undergo fragmentation, starting near the periphery and progressing toward the center. Regenerating muscle fibers take the place of the degenerated muscle fibers. In pre-denervated grafts, the last of the original muscle fibers in the center of the graft have broken down by 41 days whereas in normal muscle grafts the original muscle fibers in the central region persist until 50 days. The main difference between grafts of normal and pre-denervated muscles is the rate of breakdown of the original muscle fibers. Long term grafts of both groups are morphologically very similar.