Selective and non-selective reinnervation of fast-twitch and slow-twitch rat skeletal muscle

1. The problem of selectivity during reinnervation of skeletal muscle fibres was investigated in the rat using the fast-twitch extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and the slow-twitch soleus muscles and their nerves. 2. After an operation on these nerves permitting them to compete for reinnervation of one or the other muscle (hereafter called Y-union), virtually the total isometric tetanic tension of EDL muscle could be elicited by stimulating the EDL nerve, while stimulating the soleus nerve yielded little or no tension. In the case of the soleus muscle, stimulation of either nerve elicited about half of the total isometric tetanic tension. 3. During the course of reinnervation of these muscles in non-competitive situations, the time course of increase in the ratio of tension elicited by nerve stimulation to that by direct stimulation was slower in the case of soleus nerve reinnervating EDL muscle, compared with cross-reinnervation in the reverse direction or reinnervation of each muscle by its own nerve. 4. Crushing the common peroneal nerve 12 days after a Y-union in an attempt to retard the EDL nerve did not favour reinnervation of the EDL by soleus nerve, but crushing the nerve again or just once at 1 month after the original operation produced substantial partial reinnervation of the EDL by the soleus nerve. 5. It is concluded that soleus nerve fibres form functioning neuromuscular synapses on EDL muscle fibres only with difficulty. The pattern of reinnervation reveals characteristic differences between fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscles on the one hand and between their respective nerves on the other.