Structural connections of the muscle-tendon junction.

The muscle-tendon junction of murine skeletal muscles has been analyzed by a variety of extraction techniques, by myosin subfragment-1 binding experiments, and by ultrastructural immunocytochemistry. The results indicate that the muscle-tendon junction is composed of four distinct domains: an intracellular domain, the internal lamina; a domain connecting the internal lamina with the lamina densa of the external lamina, the connecting domain; the lamina densa; and a domain which attaches the lamina densa to the collagen fibers, the matrix. Each of these domains is distinct with respect to position, three-dimensional organization, and molecular composition, and is therefore considered to have a unique role in the transmission of contractile force.