An attempt to account for the diversity of crustacean muscles

Abstract

Crustacean muscles are known to contain muscle fibers of variable properties and to be innervated by phasic and/or tonic motoneurons which may possess synapses of diverse physiological properties. Frequently, phasic motor axons innervate short-sarcomere phasic muscle fibers and tonic motor axons innervate long-sarcomere tonic muscle fibers, but some muscles receiving a single (tonic) motor axon contain both phasic and tonic muscle fibers. Although it is not known whether neural trophic influences are involved in muscle differentiation, some neural trophic effects have been found in crustaceans, and it is reasonable to assume that such influences may be involved in establishing the definitive properties of the muscle. Several other postulates must be made: (1) Phasic and tonic motor axons differ in their trophic effectiveness: (2) muscle fibers innervated relatively early in development by a tonic motor axon acquire the properties of tonic muscle fibers, while those innervated later become intermediate or phasic muscle fibers; (3) the developmental stage of a growing or regenerating axon terminal plays a role in determination of synaptic properties. Studies on regenerating limb buds support the hypothesis, which can account for the genesis of all observed types of crustacean neuromuscular system. Further experimental work is necessary to test the hypothesis. © 1973 by the American Society of Zoologists.