2006 Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 27-34
Immobilized soleus muscles reportedly forms a degeneration structure called a wave-like structure. The wave-like structure offers a sensitive marker of morphological change induced by disuse. We examined the frequency of wave-like structures induced by immobilization for type I and type II muscle fibers. For each duration of immobilization, frequencies of wave-like structures were higher for type II fibers than for type I fibers (P<0.01).
Distributions of fiber types in mouse soleus muscles were also investigated using routine ATPase methods. No deviations in distribution were observed and numbers of each fiber type were almost equal in each soleus muscle.
