Histochemical study of long nuclear chain fibers in the cat muscle spindle

Cat intrafusal muscle fibers were examined histochemically in serial transverse sections of tenuissimus muscle spindles. The "myofibrillar" adenosine triphosphatase staining reaction was used to recognize the nuclear bag and the nuclear chain fibers in 309 spindle poles. Poles of 40 nuclear chain fibers extended for 1,000 micrometer or more beyond the termination of the spindle capsule. These long chain fibers stained less intensely for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide tetrazolium reductase (NADH-TR) than the typical chain fibers of shorter polar length. In sections stained for cholinesterases (ChE), the extracapsular regions of most long chain fibers displayed one or two short, dense "plate"-type ChE deposits, which may represent the terminals of skeleto-fusimotor axons. In addition, about one-third of the long chain fibers displayed one or more thinner and smaller areas of ChE activity, possibly corresponding to the endings of fusimotor axons. The overall ChE staining pattern of the typical chain fibers was unlike that of the long chains. However, some of the shorter nuclear chain fibers resembled long chain fibers with the NADH-TR reaction, even though their ChE "plates" were located intracapsularly. It is concluded that nuclear chain fibers in the cat spindle form a class of intrafusal fibers with heterogeneous histochemical properties, and that the long chain fibers represent one fiber subtype.