spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif ARCHIVE ANNOUNCEMENT! spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Duxson, M. J.
Right arrow Articles by Usson, Y.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Duxson, M. J.
Right arrow Articles by Usson, Y.

Development, Vol 107, Issue 2 243-251, Copyright © 1989 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Cellular insertion of primary and secondary myotubes in embryonic rat muscles

MJ Duxson and Y Usson
Department of Anatomy, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Mammalian muscles develop from two populations of myotubes; primary myotubes appear first and are few in number; secondary myotubes appear later and form most of the muscle fibres. We have made an ultrastructural study to investigate how primary and secondary myotubes in embryonic rat muscles transmit tension during the period of their development. Primary myotubes extend from end to end of the muscle from the earliest times, and attach directly to the tendon. In contrast, newly formed secondary myotubes are short cells which insert solely into the primary myotubes by a series of complex interdigitating folds along which adhering junctions occur. As the secondary myotubes lengthen and mature, their insertion is progressively transferred from the primary myotube to the tendon proper. We suggest that this variable insertion of immature secondary myotubes, combined with complex patterns of innervation and electrical coupling in developing muscle, makes it difficult to predict the overall contribution of secondary myotubes to muscle tension development. This work extends other studies showing the unique relationship between a primary myotube and its associated secondary myotubes, indicating that these may constitute a developmental compartment.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Histochem. Cytochem.Home page
F. Pedrosa–Domellöf, C.-F. Tiger, I. Virtanen, L.-E. Thornell, and D. Gullberg
Laminin Chains in Developing and Adult Human Myotendinous Junctions
J. Histochem. Cytochem., February 1, 2000; 48(2): 201 - 210.
[Abstract] [Full Text]

Home page
 J. Cell Biol.Home page
A. Baumeister, S. Arber, and P. Caroni
Accumulation of Muscle Ankyrin Repeat Protein Transcript Reveals Local Activation of Primary Myotube Endcompartments during Muscle Morphogenesis
J. Cell Biol., December 1, 1997; 139(5): 1231 - 1242.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1989