Development and motor innervation of a distal pair of fast and slow wing muscles in the chick embryo

The chick wrist muscle ulnimetacarpalis dorsalis (umd) has two heads. Using myosin ATPase and acetylcholinesterase (ACh.E) staining it was shown that one of the heads is composed almost entirely of acid-stable muscle fibres with multiple end plates (slow muscle fibres) and the other of acid-labile fibres with single end plates (fast muscle fibres). The development of the muscle was traced from E7 (Stage 32–33) when it is a relatively homogeneous mass, to E18. The two heads of the muscle are first distinguishable, by ATPase staining, at E8 (Stage 33–34) prior to their cleaving. Both heads of the muscle are innervated by motoneurons positioned laterally in the lateral motor column in spinal segments 15 and 16. There is no observable difference in the positions of the motoneuron pools to the two heads. At E18 the motoneurons innervating the fast head tend to be slightly larger than those innervating the slow head.