Alteration of intrafusal bundle composition by nerve crush in neonatal rats

We examined the expression of myosin heavy-chain isoforms in intrafusal muscle fibers of spindles formed in gastrocnemius muscles reinnervated in the presence of exogenous nerve growth factor after nerve crush in neonatal rats. Only 50% of the experimental spindles contained intrafusal fibers that expressed a slow-tonic myosin normally expressed by at least one fiber in every rat spindle. In addition, spindles containing only bag1 and/or chain fibers, but no bag2 fibers, were observed in reinnervated muscles whereas all normal spindles contain a bag2 fiber. These data suggest that afferents retain the capacity to induce the expression of a spindle-specific myosin in a period other than during normal development of intrafusal fibers. However, a scarcity of precursor cells available to become intrafusal fibers when contacted by afferents might have resulted in the alteration of intrafusal bundle composition in some spindles of reinnervated muscles.