Quantitative study of the effects of long-term denervation on the extensor digitorum longus muscle of the rat

Abstract

Increasing times of denervation are accompanied by a pronounced decline in the number of myonuclei per muscle fiber and an initial rise and subsequent fall in satellite cell number. These changes are correlated with a decreasing restorative ability of these muscles over the same periods of denervation. Further work on the proliferative capacity of the remaining satellite cells is necessary before firm quantitative conclusions can be made.