0000000000075018
AUTHOR
Andreas R. Gunkel
Morphology of experimentally denervated and reinnervated rat facial muscle I. Histochemical and histological findings
The morphological changes in rat facial muscles were evaluated after permanent denervation and were compared with findings after immediate reinnervation. Thirty rats underwent transection of the left and right facial nerves immediately followed by hypoglossal-facial nerve anastomosis on the right side (muscular reinnervation) and removal of 8-10 mm of the facial plexus on the left side (permanent muscular denervation). Levator labii muscle samples of both sides were collected sequentially at 2, 6, 7, 10, 20, and 24 weeks after surgery and submitted to routine histological and enzyme histochemical staining procedures. In normal levator labii muscles a typical "chessboard" pattern was found, …
DNA-fragmentation and expression of apoptosis-related proteins in experimentally denervated and reinnervated rat facial muscle
Muscle fibres may undergo apoptotic cell death in several neuromuscular disorders such as denervated muscle fibres in spinal muscular atrophies. We investigated DNA-fragmentation (in situ by the TUNEL-method) and expression of apoptosis-associated proteins in experimentally denervated and reinnervated rat facial muscle up to 24 weeks after surgery to evaluate the rate and time lapse of apoptotic muscle fibre loss. While denervated muscle displayed constantly high rates of DNA-fragmentation, denervated and immediately reinnervated muscle showed a distinct decrease of primarily elevated DNA-cleavage, finally resembling rates of normal controls. Denervated muscle fibres revealed strong immunor…
Expression Profile of Stress Proteins, Intermediate Filaments, and Adhesion Molecules in Experimentally Denervated and Reinnervated Rat Facial Muscle
The immunohistochemical profiles of ubiquitin, heat shock protein 70, alpha-B-crystallin, desmin, vimentin, neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM), and tenascin in rat facial muscle were studied after permanent denervation by transection of the facial plexus on one side and compared with findings after immediate reinnervation by hypoglossal-facial nerve anastomosis subsequent to transection on the contralateral side. Levator labii muscle samples were collected sequentially at 2, 6, 7, 10, 20, and 24 weeks after surgery. Normal levator labii muscle fibers showed physiological expression of desmin and alpha-B-crystallin. Denervated rat facial muscle displayed distinct up-regulation of ubiquiti…
Expression of different isoforms of nitric oxide synthase in experimentally denervated and reinnervated skeletal muscle.
Denervated muscle fibers express enhanced levels of stress and apoptosis-associated proteins and undergo apoptosis. In experimentally denervated and reinnervated rat facial muscle, we now evaluate changes in the expression patterns of different isoforms of nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-generating nitric oxide (NO), which mediates oxidative stress and apoptosis. Physiological expression of NOS corresponds to a constant sarcolemmal staining pattern for neuronal NOS (nNOS) and a patchy sarcolemmal and weak sarcoplasmic labeling for the endothelial NOS-isoform, with no expression for inducible NOS (iNOS). Denervated muscle displayed distinct downregulation of nNOS with preserved expression of dys…