Reinnervated eye muscles do not respond to impulses in foreign nerves

Abstract

Normal movements return to carp eyes after section and regeneration of the IIIrd and IVth nerve trunks. Two months after reinnervation, records of impulses in the inferior oblique nerve during tilting of the body show activity of the normal motoneurons to that muscle, together with discharge patterns characteristic of the antagonistic superior oblique and some of the rectus muscles. These axons must have found their way into the inferior oblique trunk during sprouting at the lesion and must be maintained after reinnervation. Impulses from foreign axons are without detectable effect on eye movement and therefore must be blocked at their termination in the muscle. Previous study of cross-innervated and doubly innervated fish eye muscles revealed only structurally normal neuromuscular junctions. Transmission from foreign junctions in multiply innervated muscle is blocked by competitive molecular recognition and control mechanisms that do not cause degeneration.