An experimental orthopedic treatment of the rat mandible using a functional appliance alters the fibre and myosin types in masticatory muscles.

Masticatory muscles mediate the action of functional orthopedic appliances on mandible growth. When young rats were treated for four weeks with a postural hyperpropulsor of the mandible, an appliance designed to increase condylar cartilage growth rate, the proportion of fast non-fatigable fibres in the lateral pterygoid muscle increased significantly. Concomitantly, the amount of slow-myosin light chains increased in fibre extracts. This slow myosin originated from IIA fibres. By functional orthopedic treatment, the lateral pterygoid muscle was enriched in less fatigable fibres; the changes observed in the lateral pterygoid muscle were close to changes observed in other muscles after training.