Persistent adrenergic reinnervation of previously denervated muscle in cat.

Synapse formation by aberrant nerves at chronically denervated intrinsic laryngeal muscles was observed even at 21 months after the transection of the recurrent laryngeal nerve in cats. Some of the aberrant nerves were adrenergic, and these nerve terminals were in synaptic contact with the postsynaptic membrane of the neuromuscular junctions together with non-adrenergic nerve terminals. Therefore, heterogeneous reinnervation between adrenergic nerve and muscle was found to be maintained for a long time.