A STUDY OF THE SYMPATHETIC INNERVATION TO SKELETAL MUSCLE

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Abstract
By extirpating the stellate ganglion, 1 fore limb was deprived of sympathetic innervation in each of 22 dogs. Tone and use and the vascular conditions in the 2 forelimbs were examined in the resting state, during muscular work (running in a motor-driven treadmill), in parathyroid tetany, in slight strychnin poisoning, and in decere-brate rigidity, at times from 1 day to 10 mo. following the operation. Tone and use of the forelimbs were alike in rest, in slight activity, and again after very great activity (running 12-15 miles). The capacity for prolonged muscular work and the onset and severity of fatigue were in no way affected by sympathectomy. After moderate muscular work, in strychnin poisoning, and in parathyroid tetany, a tendency for the exhibition of greater tone in the sympathectomized limb was found. The relation of this to a relatively lesser blood flow through this limb is pointed out and discussed. A fairly constant lesser tone in the sympathectomized limb was found in 2 of 15 animals decerebrated. No trophic disturbances, wasting of muscle, or lowered resistance to infection were observed after sympathectomy. The conclusion is that the evidence does not support the theory of a sympathetic innervation of tone as such, or of any phase of tonic activity, but that sufficient evidence has been presented of a quantitative relationship between blood flow and tone to be very suggestive that the circulation through a limb is 1 of the factors conditioning its tone.

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