Summary
Activities of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), glycerolphosphate oxidase (GP-OX), cytochrome oxidase (CYT-OX) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were determined microphotometrically in single, actomyosin-ATPase typed (Guth and Samaha 1970) fibres within cross-sections of normal and reinnervated rat tibialis anterior muscles. SDH and GP-OX activities displayed pronounced scattering and large overlaps existed between α-, αβ-, and β-fibres of normal muscle. Coefficients of variation were in the range of 16–40% for GP-OX and SDH in the different fibre populations. Enzyme activity determinations in typegrouped α-, αβ-, and β-fibres of reinnervated muscle showed much less scattering than in normally distributed α-, αβ-, and β-fibres of control muscles. Coefficients of variation were in the range of 10–13% for SDH, GP-OX, CYT-OX and LDH. The experimental error of the kinetic microphotometric measurement of enzyme activities in situ is in the range of 10% (Reichmann and Pette 1982). Our results therefore suggest a high degree of metabolic similarity or homogeneity of typed-grouped muscle fibres and thus support the assumption that type-groped fibres are homogeneous and correspond to regularly assembled motor units.
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Vetter, C., Reichmann, H. & Pette, D. Microphotometric determination of enzyme activities in type-grouped fibres of reinnervated rat muscle. Histochemistry 80, 347–351 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00495415
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00495415