Comparison of static fusimotor innervation in cat peroneus tertius and longus muscles.

Static fusimotor innervation was compared in cat peroneus longus and tertius muscles because the gamma to spindle ratio is considerably higher in the longus (approximately 60 gamma axons for 17 spindles) than in the tertius (approximately 24 gamma axons for 14 spindles). Single gamma axons were identified as static (gamma(s)) by their typical effects on the response of primary ending to ramp stretch. The intrafusal muscle fibers that single gamma(s) axons activated in the spindles they supplied were identified by the features of cross-correlograms between Ia impulses and stimuli, at 100 Hz, and by those of primary ending responses during stimulation at 30 Hz. In each experiment, a large proportion of the gamma population was tested on about nine spindles. A statistical analysis was used to estimate the number of spindles supplied by single gamma(s) axons and the proportion of gamma(s) axons that supply only one spindle among those the stimulation of which had activated either bag2 or chain fibers alone in a single spindle. In peroneus longus, nearly all gamma(s) axons supply one or two spindles, whereas in peroneus tertius, the majority of gamma(s) axons supply from three to six spindles. The proportion of nonspecifically distributed gamma(s) axons, i.e., of axons that supply both bag2 fibers and chain fibers either in the same or in different spindles, is much lower (56%) in the longus than in the tertius (83%) as previously observed on a population of gammas axons that supplied from three to six spindles. Correspondingly, the proportion of specific axons is much higher in the longus (44%) than in the tertius (17%). In none of the two muscles was a strict relationship observed between the conduction velocity of gamma(s) axons and their intrafusal distribution (specific bag2, specific chain fibers, nonspecific). However, gamma(s) supplying bag2 fibers either specifically or in combination with chain fibers tended to have faster conduction velocities, which suggests that, in various motor acts, the proportion of activated bag2 and chain fibers may be related to the proportions of activated fast and slow gamma(s) axons.