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DOI: 10.1369/jhc.4A6257.2005
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Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry
Volume 53 (4): 445-454, 2005
Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc.

Fiber Content and Myosin Heavy Chain Composition of Muscle Spindles in Aged Human Biceps Brachii

Jing-Xia Liu, Per-Olof Eriksson, Lars-Eric Thornell and Fatima Pedrosa-Domellöf

Department of Integrative Medical Biology, Section for Anatomy (J-XL,L-ET,FP-D), Department of Odontology, Clinical Oral Physiology (P-OE), Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden, and Center for Musculoskeletal Research, Gävle University, Gävle, Sweden (J-XL,P-OE,L-ET,FP-D)

Correspondence to: Fatima Pedrosa-Domellöf, Department of Integrative Medical Biology, Section for Anatomy, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. E-mail: fatima.pedrosa-domellof{at}anatomy.umu.se

The present study investigated potential age-related changes in human muscle spindles with respect to the intrafusal fiber-type content and myosin heavy chain (MyHC) composition in biceps brachii muscle. The total number of intrafusal fibers per spindle decreased significantly with aging, due to a significant reduction in the number of nuclear chain fibers. Nuclear chain fibers in old spindles were short and some showed novel expression of MyHC {alpha}-cardiac. The expression of MyHC {alpha}-cardiac in bag1 and bag2 fibers was greatly decreased in the A region. The expression of slow MyHC was increased in nuclear bag1 fibers and that of fetal MyHC decreased in bag2 fibers whereas the patterns of distribution of the remaining MyHC isoforms were generally not affected by aging. We conclude that aging appears to have an important impact on muscle spindle composition. These changes in muscle spindle phenotype may reflect an age-related deterioration in sensory and motor innervation and are likely to have an impact in motor control in the elderly. (J Histochem Cytochem 53:445–454, 2005)

Key Words: aging • muscle spindles • MyHC • intrafusal fiber content • biceps brachii • human


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