Vertebrates display diverse patterns of neuromuscular innervation, but little is known about how such diversity is generated. In mammals, neuromuscular junctions form predominantly at equatorial locations, giving rise to a focal innervation pattern along a central endplate band. In addition, vertebrate striated muscles exhibit two nonfocal neuromuscular patterns, myoseptal and distributed inner...

The innervation patterns of vestibular saccular afferents were quantitatively investigated in pigeons using biotinylated dextran amine as a neural tracer and three-dimensional computer reconstruction. Type I hair cells were found throughout a large portion of the macula, with the highest density observed in the striola. Type II hair cells were located throughout the macula, with the highest den...

INTRODUCTION As we know from several studies, the fiber structure and the mechanical properties of a muscle depends on the innervation frequency, innervation time (IT) and the innervation–rest ratio (Monster et al. 1978; Hennig and Lømo 1985; Gundersen and Eken 1992). Recently Hämälainen & Pette (1996) reported that it is possible not only to transform fast contracting MHC II fibers to slow con...

Vaginal function is strongly influenced by reproductive hormone status. Vaginal dysfunction during menopause is generally assumed to occur because of diminished estrogen-mediated trophic support of vaginal target cells. However, peripheral neurons possess estrogen receptors and are potentially responsive to gonadal steroid hormones. In the present study, we investigated whether sensory and auto...

Myocardial infarcts are often associated with increased neural innervation surrounding the infarct scar. This nerve sprouting is risk of arrhythmias and sudden death. Despite decades study, fundamental questions remain open, including whether heterogeneous activity proarrhythmic number neurons needed to modulate dynamics at tissue level. Arrhythmogenic mechanisms in vivo poorly understood as ke...