Selective innervation of foreign muscles following damage or removal of normal muscle targets

The restoration of a normal pattern of neural connectivity following nerve injury depends upon the selective reinnervation of appropriate postsynaptic targets. Previous studies suggest that, in the neuromuscular system, recognition between regenerating motoneurons and target muscles depends upon the positions of origin of the motoneurons and muscles. In axolotls, portions of the motor pools of adjacent muscles overlap. We found that, following removal of a pair of adjacent hindlimb muscles, anterior and posterior iliotibialis, many regenerating iliotibialis motor axons invaded foreign muscles. A more anterior foreign muscle, puboischiofemoralis internus, received greater innervation from anterior iliotibialis motoneurons, whereas a more posterior muscle, iliofibularis, received greater innervation from posterior iliotibialis motoneurons. Furthermore, anterior iliotibialis motoneurons that reinnervated puboischiofemoralis internus occupied the rostral portion of anterior iliotibialis motor pool, which overlaps that of puboischiofemoralis internus. Anterior iliotibialis motoneurons that reinnervated iliofibularis occupied the caudal portion of the anterior iliotibialis motor pool, which overlaps that of iliofibularis. When both anterior and posterior iliotibialis were damaged so that their myofibers were permanently destroyed, the rostrocaudal origins of the motoneurons that reinnervated them were virtually the same, suggesting that the motoneurons had difficulty distinguishing between the myofiberless iliotibialis muscles. However, some iliotibialis motoneurons invaded puboischiofemoralis internus instead of their myofiberless targets. Puboischiofemoralis internus received more innervation from the anterior iliotibialis motoneurons than the positionally less appropriate posterior iliotibialis motoneurons. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that selective reinnervation of muscle depends upon a system of recognition cues based on position.