Shifts in rat plantaris motor unit characteristics with aging and compensatory overload

Contractile characteristics of single motor units from plantaris muscles of young (6 mo), middle-aged (14 mo), and older (20 mo) rats were examined. Some of the muscles were subjected to a short-term (30 days) compensatory overload. After overload, the absolute increase in muscle weight was less for the 20-mo-old rats (38%) than the other groups (62%). However, when muscle weight per unit body weight was examined, the ratio was increased to a similar extent for all age groups. Aging was associated with an increase in slow (6 mo, 12.5%; 14 mo, 17.7%; 20 mo, 30.2%) and transitional (6 mo, 2.5%; 14 mo, 15.2%; 20 mo, 12.7%) motor unit proportions. This increase initially occurred at the expense of fast-fatigable motor units (6 mo, 36.3%; 14 mo, 13.9%; 20 mo, 20.7%) and then fast-intermediate units (6 mo, 40%; 14 mo, 39.2%; 20 mo, 26.7%). In addition, the maximal tension of individual motor units tended to increase with age. In younger rats compensatory overload produced changes in the motor unit profile similar to those that occurred with aging. In contrast, overload of the plantaris from 20-mo-old rats resulted in an increase in the force contribution from fast motor units. These results demonstrate that aging is accompanied by a gradual reorganization of the skeletal muscle motor unit pool, such that there is a loss of fast motor units and an increase in the proportion of slow motor units. While compensatory overload initially appears to mimic the aging effect, in older animals it may delay or reverse some of the age-related changes.