Acute and latent effect of poliomyelitis on the motor unit as revealed by electromyography

When polio virus attacks the motor neuron it may be completely destroyed, damaged, or unaffected. Muscle fibers of a destroyed motor neuron are orphaned or reinnervated. Nearby functioning motor units will then send terminal axon sprouts to reinnervate the orphaned muscle fibers. If there are too many orphaned muscle fibers and not enough surviving motor units to reinnervate them, the orphaned muscle fibers will continue to fibrillate until they atrophy and die. The resultant effect of poliomyelitis upon the affected muscle is an overall loss of motor units with the remaining units innervating many more muscle fibers than they originally did. There appears to be a late effect of polio upon these larger reinnervated motor units. After approximately 20 to 30 years, impulse transmission to the muscle fibers of the large reinnervated motor unit begins to fail. These transmission difficulties increase with age and time from recovery. These late onset transmission abnormalities may be factors in patient complaints of fatigue and progressive weakness.