Aim: The present study attempted to use HE staining to clarify morphological changes in muscle fibres during recovery from disuse muscle atrophy.
Methods: Disuse muscle atrophy was induced by suspending 7-week-old male Wistar rats by their tails for 5 weeks (hindlimb unloading or HU group). Histological changes in the soleus muscle (SOL) during the recovery process were examined and compared with those in control rats who were raised freely without unloading (C group).
Results: Wet muscle mass and muscle cross-sectional area per fibre of SOL in the HU group were 52 +/- 5 and 22 +/- 5% of those in the C group, respectively. Muscle atrophy was largely attributable to decreases in the size of muscle fibres, rather than to muscle fibre damage or loss. Muscle mass in the HU group increased quickly after reloading, but recovery of cross-sectional area per fibre was slow, with mean area in the HU group measuring 69 +/- 10% of that in the C group even after 5 weeks of reloading. After 1, 2 and 5 weeks of reloading, incidences of muscle fibres displaying central nuclei (regenerated muscle fibres) were 7.4 +/- 2.4, 7.2 +/- 6.3 and 19.2 +/- 14.5%, respectively.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that recovery of muscle fibres atrophied by disuse involves not only growth of atrophied muscle fibres, but also regeneration of muscle fibres. Cross-sectional areas recovery of atrophied muscle fibres thus continues after increases of muscle mass.
JNMS - Journal of the Neuromusculoskeletal System 9 35-45 2001年6月1日
TO EXAMINE THE effects of aging on recovery from disuse muscular atrophy, the following experiments were performed. Using young (12w) and old (50w) female Wistar rats, a muscular atrophy model was produced by nonweightbearing of the bilateral hindlimbs by tail suspension and fixation of the ankle joint in one hind limb for 2 weeks, and the recovery course was examined. Free walking was allowed for 0-6 weeks after the removal of tail suspension and joint fixation, and measurement of the wet weight of muscles and histological examination were performed 0, 2, 4, and 6 weeks after the start of walking with four limbs. There was no difference in the degree of atrophy in the fixed soleus between the young and old rats. The recovery from atrophy was delayed in the old rats as compared to the young rats. In the unfixed hind limb, the degree of atrophy was low in both the old and young rats, and recovery was rapid. Because disuse muscular atrophy is prolonged with aging, it is necessary for elderly people, in particular, to avoid the condition of nonweightbearing and immobilization.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between fatigue curves of muscular power and muscle fiber composition, and between the force-velocity properties and muscle fiber composition when performed powerful contractions at maximum effort in certain load. Subjects were 11 healthy adult male whose ages ranged between 22 and 61 years old. The produced muscular power measured when subjects were required to perform 100 consecutive maximum leg extensions at every 3 seconds using an improved inertia wheel ergometer with an equivalent mass of 529.3kg. Muscle fiber samples were obtained from the ventral part in m. vastus lateralis with needle biopsy technique. Fiber types were classified as fast twitch fiber (FT) and slow twitch fiber (ST), further more FT fiber was divided into FTa and FTb subgroups. Following is the results obtained in this study. 1) The abrupt reduction in muscular power around 40th to 50th consecutive maximum contraction was thought to be mainly due to the fatigue in FT fiber, especially in FTb fiber. 2) Significant correlation (r=0.613, p≤0.05) was obtained between the degree of regression line of force-velocity properties and %FT. This seemed to suggest that the higher the person's %FT was, the more the reduction in muscular power was affected by the decrease in the velocity component.