It is recently recognized that the mammalian skeletal muscles contain three major types of fibers(type I,IIA,IIB), which are best characterized on flash-frozen sections by the myofibrillar adenosine triphosphatase(myosin-ATPase) and succinate dehydrog...
It is recently recognized that the mammalian skeletal muscles contain three major types of fibers(type I,IIA,IIB), which are best characterized on flash-frozen sections by the myofibrillar adenosine triphosphatase(myosin-ATPase) and succinate dehydrogenase(SDH) reaction, although recognizable by many other histochemical procedures.
Several authors have reported that the muscle fiber types seemed to be affected to different extent in certain diseases, and what appeared to be a haphazard atrophy might show a diagnostic pattern when fiber typing was undertaken.
This experiment was designed for the reevaluation of morphological and pathophysiological concepts on the denervated atrophy of the skeletal muscle by the enzyme histochemical techniques. Denervation atrophy was induced by complete cutting out of sciatic nerve at the level of gluteal region in rats.
Histological and enzyme histochemical stains for H&E, Trichrome, PAS, myosin-ATPase, SDH, acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase on the flash-frozen sections of tibialis anterior muscles were performed at the intervals of 1,2,3,5 and 8 weeks after denervation of sciatic nerve.
The results obtained were as follows.
1. Three major muscle fiber types(type I, IIA, IIB) were well recognized in normal tibialis anterior muscles of the rats, which were poorly preserved following the process of denervated atrophy, especially at 5 and 8 weeks after denervation.
2. The proportion of muscle fiber types was little changed because of even involvement of all muscle fiber types, but the degree of denervation atrophy was more marked in type IIB fiber than those of the other two fiber types, with progression of denervation atrophy.
3. The significant change of denervated atrophy was angulation of muscle fibers with formation of target fibers in cross sections stained with H&E and trichrome stains. Nuclear migration into the central portion of sarcoplasm was also noticeable and followed by ring fiber formation with progression of denervation atrophy.
4. With progression of denervated atrophy, PAS-positive materials were markedly reduced but the activity of SDH was more increased with coarse aggregation of positive granules in the muscle fibers. Activity of myosin-ATPase was slightly decreased at 8 weeks after denervation.
5. Alkaline and acid phosphatase-positive fibers were not identified in normal muscle fibers, but appeared 3 weeks after denervation and more increased in number with progression of denervated atrophy.