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  • Title: Electrophysiological properties of biventer cervicis muscle fibers of normal and roller pigeons.
    Author: Entrikin RK, Bryant SH.
    Journal: J Neurobiol; 1975 Mar; 6(2):201-12. PubMed ID: 1185182.
    Abstract:
    Cable parameters, excitability characteristics, and contractile response to acetylcholine were measured in biventer cervicis muscles from Helmet pigeons, Racing Homer pigeons and Parlor (nonflying) Roller pigeons. Cable parameters for the three strains, were respectively: calculated diameter, 30.1, 42.5, and 37.3 mum; membrane resistance, 450, 556, and 386 omega-cm2; membrane capacitance, 4.2, 3.9, and 4.5 muF/cm2, and myoplasmic resistivity, 79, 185, and 116 omega-cm. Significant differences between excitability characteristics of Homer pigeon and Roller pigeon fibers were a 17% shorter maximal latency for spike initiation (P less than 0.025) and 24% lower rheobasic current (P less than 0.05) in Roller fibers. Dose-response curves of isolated biventer cervicis to acetylcholine revealed slight, but significant, differences between Helmets and Rollers. These are the first electrophysiological data from pigeon skeletal muscle and the first from any avian biventer cervicis. The biventer muscles of chickens contain mainly "slow" fibers, but our results show that pigeon biventer fibers have properties similar to the "fast" PLD fibers of the chicken. Furthermore, the existence of different myoplasmic resistivities for each strain of pigeons used in this study suggests the need for more careful determination of this parameter in electrophysiological investigations. Although our results show that Roller pigeon fibers differ from those of nonrolling pigeons in the respects described above, these differences are minor in comparison to the severe behavioral abnormalities of Roller pigeons. Some yet untested component of neuromuscular transmission may be directly involved in the rolling phenomenon, but the differences we report may simply be due to strain differences, muscle hypertrophy, or a more severe defect elsewhere in the nervous system.
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