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Studies on the morphology, innervation, and growth of skeletal muscle fibres

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MacKayB_1961redux.pdf (24.33Mb)
Date
1961
Author
Mackay, Bruce
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Abstract
 
 
The main object of this study has been a comparative survey of the distribution of motor neuromuscular junctions in vertebrate skeletal muscle, and the principal method employed has been the histocheraical demonstration of these as sites of cholinesterase concentration. In so vast a field as the skeletal musculature of vertebrates, some discrimination has been necessary in the selection of material for study. The observations are therefore presented in three sections. In the first section, a study is made of the distribution of motor endplates in the segmental musculature of a representative series of lower vertebrates, from Amphioxus to reptiles. Observations of cholinesterase distribution have been supplemented by silver staining and electron microscopy to give a fuller picture of the morphology and innervation of segmental muscle. The second section deals with avian muscle. As will be discussed, the muscles of birds appear to be built up of two varieties of muscle fibre which differ in their mode of innervation. The attempt has been made, therefore, to demonstrate these two forms of innervation by histochemical means. The patterns of endplate distribution in a series of mammalian muscles are described in the third section, together with certain additional observations made to try to determine the significance of some forms of endplate distribution. In the discussion which follows, the histochemical demonstration of cholinesterase in skeletal muscle is first considered, and then the results of the three sections are, in turn, compared with those of previous workers, and their significance assessed. The effectiveness of the combination of techniques used in the present work is evaluated, and the occurrence of cholinesterase at muscle- tendon junctions is examined. From the literature, instances are quoted of the main reasons that have been put forward in favour of the subdivision of skeletal muscle fibres into two distinct types, and it is considered how far the results of the present studies may fit in with these hypotheses. Utilising certain information gained in the course of this work, a series of experiments was carried out to try to determine the site, or sites, on a skeletal muscle fibre at which growth in length takes place. These experiments are described, and the results considered, in the final section of the Thesis.
 
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http://hdl.handle.net/1842/35035
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  • Edinburgh Medical School thesis and dissertation collection

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