Increase of alpha motor neurons in chicken afflicted with muscular dystrophy.

Unlike other tissues, neural tissue is known to retain a constant number of neurons, throughout the life span. But during development, cell death is normally known to occur (4,6 , 7) and supernumerary cells are eliminated. An exception to this rule has been found in a pathological condition , and in this report evidence is presented of increased numbers of alpha motor neurons in the spinal cord of dystrophic chicken of line 307, Dystrophic chicken of line 307 have a heritable type of muscular dystrophy in which muscle weakness, especially that of the flight muscles, appear most prominent. As a result, the bird is unable to raise its wings or