Neuromuscular junction in fast-twitch muscle

  • Dr Guy Bewick, Aberdeen Univ.
  • Digital Images
  • Online

Available online

view Neuromuscular junction in fast-twitch muscle

Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

You can use this work for any purpose, as long as it is not primarily intended for or directed to commercial advantage or monetary compensation. You should also provide attribution to the original work, source and licence. Read more about this licence.

Credit

Neuromuscular junction in fast-twitch muscle. Dr Guy Bewick, Aberdeen Univ.. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Selected images from this work

View 1 image

About this work

Description

A confocal micrograph of living nerve terminals on rat skeletal muscle fibre. It shows mature (18 weeks after birth) neuromuscular junctions on extensor digitorum longus (EDL, fast -twitch and non-postural) rat muscle fibres. Fluorescently labelled alpha-bungarotoxin, a snake toxin, has been used to visualise the regions of highly concentrated receptor proteins on the musce fibre surface. These align precisely with branches of the overlying motor nerve terminal. When activated, the terminal releases chemicals which bind onto the receptors, making the muscle fibre contract.

Contributors

Subjects

Permanent link