This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (55)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

I. Correlation of Motor Unit Behavior With Histochemical Muscle Fiber Type in Human Limb Muscle

John R. Warmolts, MD; W. King Engel, MD

Arch Neurol. 1972;27(6):512-517.

Abstract
Electromyographic correlation of behavior of motor units with histochemical (HC) type of their muscle fibers is difficult in normal human muscle, because muscle fibers of different HC type belonging to different motor units are closely interspersed. An open-biopsy electromyography technique was developed to record from extensive, nearly homogeneous populations of muscle fibers of either major HC type in normal strength limb muscles in patients with chronic low-grade ordinary motor neuropathies and from a patient with rod neuromuscular disease.

Motor-unit potentials recorded from large, nearly uniform fields of muscle fibers low in pH 9.4 myofibrillar ATPase activity (type 1 muscle fibers) have been activated on mild voluntary contraction as relatively rhythmic, low-frequency discharges capable of sustained firing. Potentials recorded from large, nearly homogeneous fields of muscle fibers high in pH 9.4 myofibrillar ATPase activity (type 2 muscle fibers) have been activated only by vigorous or sudden contraction as brief bursts, or as single or double discharges.

Author Affiliations
Bethesda, Md

From the Medical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Bethesda, Md.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication July 17, 1972.

Read in part before the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association, Washington, DC, June 14, 1971.

Reprint requests to Medical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Bethesda, Md 20014 (Dr. Warmolts).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Morphologic and Histochemical Characteristics of Laryngeal Muscle
Rosenfield et al.
Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1982;108:662-666.
ABSTRACT  

Isokinetic rehabilitation after surgery: A review of factors which are important for developing physiotherapeutic techniques after knee surgery
Sherman et al.
Am J Sports Med 1982;10:155-161.
ABSTRACT  

Electrodiagnosis in Neuromuscular Disorders
WARMOLTS
ANN INTERN MED 1981;95:599-608.
ABSTRACT  

Open-Biopsy Electromyography: Direct Correlation of a Pattern of Excessively Recruited, Pathologically Small Motor Unit Potentials With Histologic Evidence of Neuropathy
Warmolts and Mendell
Arch Neurol 1979;36:406-409.
ABSTRACT  

Myasthenia Gravis
ENGEL et al.
ANN INTERN MED 1974;81:225-246.
ABSTRACT  

Neuromuscular Disease in Primary Hyperparathyroidism
PATTEN et al.
ANN INTERN MED 1974;80:182-193.
ABSTRACT