Innervation of free muscle grafts in the rat in the absence of mechanical trauma to surrounding muscles or nerves.

Soleus muscles in the rat were freely grafted alongside a normal Soleus muscle in the absence of mechanical trauma to any of the surrounding muscles or motor nerves . The object of this experiment was to determine whether or not the muscle grafts would become reinnervated under these circumstances . Contractile and histochemical properties of the grafts were compared with those of the contralateral denervated Soleus as well as normal muscles . Innervation of the grafts did occur, and it was concluded that the innervation of the grafts arose primarily from sprouts from nerves supplying neighboring muscles . The grafts were studied with specific nerve stains, histochemical techniques and by analysis of their contractile properties .