EFFECT OF CASTRATION ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE MOTOR ENDPLATES OF THE RAT LEVATOR ANI MUSCLE

  • 1 January 1982
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 26  (2) , 284-288
Abstract
The levator anti (LA) muscle, part of the genital apparatus of rodents, atrophies after castration. Changes in end-plate structure in the LA muscle of castrated male rats were examined with correlated light microscopic and EM methods. Four months after castration, acetylcholinesterase staining revealed in some muscle fibers the presence of subneural gutters composed of a succession of cuplets whereas the subneural gutters were continuous and ramified in control muscles. Six months after castration, most of the end-plates were further modified. Their terminal arborization, as revealed by silver nitrate staining, was more tortuous and irregular than in controls. At the ultrastructural level, reduced sole-plate and superimposed axonal endings were seen in some end-plates 3 mo. after castration. The changes (reduction of muscular activity and atrophy of muscle) are accompanied by adaptations of the neuromuscular junctions. As receptors for testosterone are present in these motoneurons and muscle fibers, the observed morphological changes might be under the control of testosterone acting on both muscle and motoneurons.

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