Abstract
Glycogen consumption and its restoration were studied histochemically in the tibialis anterior muscle fiber of the rat. After the cessation of 10-min stimulation to the muscular contraction, the animals were sacrified individually at minutes of 0, 20, 40, 80, and 160 of recovery. Both the stimulated muscle and the nonstimulated muscle of opposite tibia were immediately dissected out for preparation of frozen serial Cross-section. Histochemical techniques applied were succinic dehydrogenase (SDH) stain, Sudan black B (SBB) stain for fat, and periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) stain for glycogen. The SDH activity of each fiber was almost parallel to the intensity of SBB stain. The electrical stimulation caused an increase in frequency of incidence of the fibers rated as "PAS-negative" in SDH (-) fibers, while a decrease in the frequency in SDH ⫲ fibers. However, no change was shown in SDH (+) fibers. Subsequently, these differences in the frequency of "PAS-negative" disappeared at 40 and 80 minutes of recovery for SDH (-) and SDH ⫲ fibers, respectively.
