Summary
Quantitative (muscle fibre number and cross-sectional areas) and qualitative (myosin isoforms and metabolic enzyme activities) characteristics of two muscles, M. pectoralis major and M. anterior latissimus dorsi, were compared among male chickens of two lines during growth from hatching to adulthood. The lines were derived from a divergent selection based on growth rate. The two muscles were chosen on the basis of their histochemical profile. Pectoralis major muscle contains only fast contracting muscle fibres whereas anterior latissimus dorsi muscle is almost entirely made up with slow contracting fibres. At both ages, the two lines showed similar fibre type distributions. At hatching, fibre cross-sectional areas were equivalent in the two lines, but after the first week, animals from the fast growing line exhibited wider fibre areas, whatever the muscle, than animals from the slow growing line. The total number of fibres in a muscle was found greater in the fast growing line, irrespective of whether it was exactly determined (anterior latissimus dorsi muscle, +20%) or only estimated (pectoralis major muscle). This number remains constant in the two lines throughout the growth. Myosin isoform profiles and metabolic enzyme activities were similar in the two lines, at both ages, and were in good agreement with the histochemical muscle fibre profiles.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ABERLE E. D. & DOOLITTLE D. P. (1976) Skeletal muscle cellularity in mice selected for large body size and in controls. Growth 40, 133–45.
ABERLE E. D. & STEWART T. S. (1983) Growth of fibers types and apparent fiber number in skeletal muscle of broiler and layer type chickens. Growth 47, 135–44.
ASHMORE C. R., TOMPKINS G. & DOERR L. (1972) Postnatal development of muscle fiber in domestic animals. J. Animal Sci. 34, 37–41.
BACOU F. & VIGNERON P. (1976) Evolution périnatale des voies métaboliques glycolytiques et oxydatives de divers types de muscles squelettiques du lapin et du poulet: Ann. Biol. Animale Biochim. 16, 675–85.
BARNARD E. A., LYLES J. M. & PIZZEY J. A. (1982) Fibre types in chicken skeletal muscles and their changes in muscular distrophy. J. Physiol. 331, 333–54.
BASS A., LUSCH G. & PETTE D. (1970) Postnatal differentiation of the enzyme activity pattern of energy-supplying metabolism in slow (red) and fast (white) muscles of the chicken. Eur. J. Biochem. 13, 289–92.
BASS A., BRDICZKA D., EYER P., HOPER S. & PETTE D. (1969) Metabolic differenciation of distinct muscles types at the level of enzymatic organization. Eur. J. Biochem. 10, 198–206.
BRIAND M., BOISSONET G., LAPLACE-MARIEZE V. & BRIAND Y. (1993) Metabolic and contractile differentiation of rabbit muscles during growth. Int. J. Biochem. 25, 1881–7.
BUCHE, P. (1990) RACINE: Un système d'analyse multi-images de coupes sériées. Application à la caractérisation de fibres musculaires. Thesis, Université de Rennes I (France). Mention Informatique, no. 431.
BYRNET I., HOOPER J. C. & McCARTHY J. C. (1973) Effects of selection for body size on the weight and cellular response of seven mouse muscles. Animal Prod. 17, 187–96.
D'ALBIS A., PANTALONI C. & BECHET J. J. (1979) An electrophoretic study of native myosin isozymes and of their subunit content. Eur. J. Biochem. 99, 261–72.
D'ALBIS A., JANMOT C. & BECHET J. J. (1986) Comparisons of myosins from the masseter muscle of adult rat, mouse and guinea-pig. Persistence of neonatal-type isoforms in the murine muscle. Eur. J. Biochem. 156, 291.
FOURNIER-LERAY C. & FONTAINE-PERUS J. (1991) Influence of spinal cord stimulation on the innervation pattern of muscle fibers in vivo. J. Neurosci. 11, 3840–50.
FOWLER S. P., CAMPION D. R., MARKS H. L. & REUGAN J. O. (1980) An analysis of skeletal muscle response to selection for rapid growth in Japanese quail. Growth 44, 235–52.
GARDAHAUT M. F., ROUAUD T., RENAUD D. & le DOUARIN G. (1988) Developmental changes in myosin isoforms from slow and fast latissimus dorsi muscles in the chicken. Differentiation 37, 81–5.
GUTH L. & SAMAHA F. J. (1969) Qualitative differences between actomyosin ATPase of slow and fast mammalian muscles. Exper. Neurol. 25, 138–52.
HANHARAN J. P., COOPER C. A. & McCARTHY J. C. (1973) Effects of divergent selection for body weight on fibre number and diameter in two muscles. Animal Prod. 16, 7–16.
HOH J. F. Y. (1979) Developmental changes in chicken skeletal myosin isoenzymes. FEBS Letts 982, 267–70.
HOH J. F. Y., McGRATH P. A. & WHITE R. I. (1976) Electrophoretic analysis of multiple forms of myosin in fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscles of the chick. Biochem. J. 157, 87–95.
HOOPER A. C. B. (1978) Muscles and bones of large and small mice compared at equal body weight. J. Anat. 127, 117–23.
HORAK V., SERCIKOVA K. & KNIZCTOVA H. (1989) Histochemical fiber types in the tigh muscles of 4 chickens inbred lines. Anat. Anzeit. 169, 313–20.
KENNEDY J. M., RADOVAN Zak & LIZHU Gao. (1991) Myosin expression in hypertrophied fast-twitch and slow tonic muscles of normal and dystrophic chickens. Muscle Nerve 14, 166–77.
LUFF A. R. & GOLDSPINK G. (1970) Total number of fibers in muscles of several strains of mice. J. Animal Sci. 30, 891–3.
MARUYAMA K. & KANEMAKI N. (1991) Myosin isoform expression in skeletal muscles of turkey at various ages. Poultry Sci. 70, 1748–57.
MOSS F. P. (1968) The relationship between the dimensions of the fibres and the number of nuclei during normal growth of skeletal muscle in the domestic fowl. Am. J. Anat. 122, 555–64.
REMIGNON, H. (1993) Contribution à l'étude histologique et biochimique des muscles dans deux lignées de poulets à croissance lente ou rapide. Thesis, Université de Clermont-Ferrand II (France), Mention Science des Aliments, no. 607.
RICARD F. H. (1975) Essai de sélection sur la forme de la souche de croissance chez le poulet. Ann. Génét. Sélec. Animale 7, 427–43.
SAS (1985) User's Guide: Statistics. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc.
SMITH J. H. (1963) Relation of body size to muscle cell size and number in the chicken. Poultry Sci 42, 283–90.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Remignon, H., Gardahaut, M.F., Marche, G. et al. Selection for rapid growth increases the number and the size of muscle fibres without changing their typing in chickens. J Muscle Res Cell Motil 16, 95–102 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00122527
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00122527