Properties of single motor units in medial gastrocnemius muscles of adult and old rats

1. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of motor unit remodelling in the deficit that develops in the maximum isometric tetanic force (F-o) of whole medial gastrocnemius (MGN) muscles in old compared with adult rats. The F-o values and morphological data were determined for MGN muscles and eighty-two single motor units in muscles of adult (10-12 months) and sixty-two units in those of old (24-26 months) F344 rats. During an unfused tetanus, fast and slow (S) motor units were identified by the presence and absence of sag, respectively. Fast-fatigable (FF) and fast-fatigue-resistant (FR) units were classified by fatigue indices less than or greater than 0 . 50, respectively. 2. For old rats, whole MGN muscle F-o was 29% less than the value of 11 . 2 N measured for adult rats. The deficit in whole muscle F-o of old rats resulted from equivalent decreases in the number of motor units, 16% smaller than the adult value of ninety-seven, and in the mean motor unit F-o value, 14% less than the adult value of 117 mN. 3. With ageing, little motor unit remodelling occurred in FR units, whereas the S and FF motor units demonstrated dramatic, but opposing, changes. For S units, the number of units remained constant, but the number of fibres per motor unit increased 3-fold from 57 to 165. In contrast, the number of FF units decreased by 34% and the number of fibres per motor unit of the remaining units decreased to 86% of the adult value of 333. The age-related remodelling of motor units appeared to involve denervation of fast muscle fibres with reinnervation of denervated fibres by axonal sprouting from slow fibres.