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Abstract
Samples of skeletal muscle were taken from 50 sites in each of 6 previously normal
male autopsy subjects aged between 17 and 30 years. The respective percentages of
Type I and Type II fibres were calculated and showed that there was a wide variation
in fibre type proportions between the 6 samples in almost all the muscles studied.
Examination of the mean fibre type proportions of each muscle revealed that predominantly
tonic muscles had a high percentage of Type I fibres and predominantly phasic muscles
had a high percentage of Type II fibres. Most of the muscles studied were known to
fulfil both tonic and phasic functions, however, and showed no striking preponderance
of either fibre type.
The spatial distribution of the fibre types was examined in order to determine whether
this was random or not. The number of “enclosed” fibres observed in the actual samples
was compared statistically with the number expected to occur in a hexagonal lattice
model, assuming a random distribution. In the great majority of muscles, the distribution
of the fibre types was in fact random, though isolated instances of grouping of fibres
of uniform type were noted in some distal muscles and more regularly in extensor digitorum
brevis.
The methods used in the quantitative assessment of the proportions and spatial distribution
of the respective fibre types in normal muscle have obvious applications in the study
of neuromuscular disease.
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Article info
Publication history
Received:
August 3,
1972
Identification
Copyright
© 1973 Published by Elsevier Inc.
