Muscle size and motor unit survival in mice

The soleus muscles in neonatal and adult mice were surgically reduced in size on one side of the animal. The experimental and control muscles were excised 6-48 weeks later and the number of motor units in each muscle was estimated by stimulating the muscle nerve and counting step increments in the electromyogram recorded in vitro. Multiple innervation in individual muscle fibres was then assessed by intracellular recording and by visualization of end-plates in the light microscope with cholinesterase stain. Muscle fibres were counted in cross-sections of each muscle in the light microscope. Surgical reductions in the size of the muscle during the first 3 weeks of life produced correlated reductions in the number of motor units in the muscle. This could not be attributed to masking of motor units by multiple innervation, which was always less than 10% in these muscles. The loss of motor units was greatest following reduction in muscle size in newborn mice, whereas in 6-week-old mice there was no significant loss of motor units following the operation. Thus, survival of neonatal motor units shows an age-related dependence on the number of muscle fibres available for innervation. In control muscles there was a highly significant correlation between motor unit and muscle fibre numbers, which is consistent with the hypothesis that motor neurone survival during the embryonic period of cell death is dependent upon the number of muscle fibres available for innervation.