Transient expression of a slow-tonic MHC isoform by extrafusal fibers in the developing rat

ALD 19, a monoclonal antibody that recognizes the slow-tonic myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoform, has been used extensively as a marker for nuclear bag intrafusal fibers of muscle spindles in developing and adult rats. Extrafusal fibers of adult rat hindlimb muscles do not express slow-tonic MHC. However, while using ALD 19 to trace the fate of intrafusal fibers following neonatal denervation, we noted that some extrafusal fibers of neonates also bound this antibody. The immunolabeled extrafusal fibers were a subset of slow fibers located in the deep axial regions of crural muscles. The same fiber subset transiently displayed a weak affinity for ALD 19 during the first postnatal week in normal muscles. Denervation at birth increased the intensity of ALD 19 immunolabelling by these extrafusal fibers and extended the duration of the slow-tonic immunoreactivity into the 2nd postnatal week, after which expression diminished or ceased. Demonstration that some developing extrafusal fibers have a nerve-independent capacity for transiently expressing slow-tonic MHC, an MHC previously though to be expressed only by intrafusal fibers, raises the possibility that both types of fiber originate from a subset of bipotential slow primary myotubes in rat hindlimbs.