Muscle spindles in the levator palpebrae superioris muscle of human foetuses

Abstract

Studies were performed on the levator palpebrae superioris muscle, isolated from foetuses aged 17 to 30 weeks. The number of muscle spindles varied from 2 in the 17^th week to 7 in the 30^th week. The length of the muscle spindles ranged from 20 to 500 μm, and the diameter varied from 10 to 70 μm. These observations show that the number of muscle spindles in levator palpebrae superioris muscles is significantly lesser than that in the extraocular muscles.