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How soon can muscle shrinkage become visible after nerve cells in the spinal cord are destroyed?
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atrophy
One example of atrophy is the progressive loss of bone that occurs in osteoporosis (normal bone shown on left; osteoporotic bone shown on right).
When nerve cells in the spinal cord that are responsible for activating muscles are destroyed, the muscles become paralyzed and limp. The shrinkage of these paralyzed muscle fibers typically becomes evident within a few weeks.1