Summary
In studies of the myosin crossbridge interaction with actin in vertebrate muscles, the muscles of bony fish have the unique advantage for ultrastructural work that the A-band has a simple ‘crystalline’ lattice of myosin filaments. However, the anatomy and physiology of these fish muscles is relatively poorly understood compared with the rabbit, chicken or frog muscles conventionally used for crossbridge studies. Here the fibre types in fish fin muscles have been characterized to allow sensible selection of single fish fibres for ultrastructural studies. The fibre type compositions of the fin muscles of mullet, plaice, sole and turbot were examined by histochemistry and immunohistochemistry using polyclonal antibodies raised against various myosin isoforms: fish slow, fish fast, mammalian fast (type IIA) and chicken tonic myosins. In the mullet, fin muscles were composed of variable proportions of fast and slow fibres. In the three flatfish, the fin muscle showed a zonal arrangement with slow fibres, binding anti-slow myosin antibody, next to the skin (α region). The bulk of the muscle, distal to the skin, was a typical fast muscle both histochemically and in its reaction with antibodies (δ region). Between these two regions there may be one (sole) or two (turbot, plaice) intermediate zones (β and γ regions) comparable to the pink/intermediate layer of myotomal muscle. In the plaice fin muscle, two kinds of slow fibre could be distinguished immunohistochemically.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
BÄR, A. & PETTE, D. (1988) Three fast myosin heavy chains in adult rat skeletal muscle. FEBS Lett. 235, 153–5.
BEWICK, G. S., ROWLERSON, A., TONGE, D. A. & HOLDER, N. (1991) Organisation of motor units in the axolotl: a continuously growing animal. J. Comp. Neurol. 303, 551–62.
BONE, G., JOHNSTON, I.A., PULSFORD, A. & RYON, K. P. (1986) Contractile properties and ultrastructure of three types of muscle fibre in the dogfish myotome. J. Muscle Res. Cell Motil. 7, 47–56.
CARPENÈ, E., VEGGETTI, A. & MASCARELLO, F. (1982) Histochemical fibre types in the lateral muscle of fishes in fresh, brackish and salt water. J. Fish Biol. 20, 379–96.
CHAYEN, N., FREUNDLICH, A. & SQUIRE, J. M. (1987) Comparative histochemistry of a flatfish fin muscle and of other vertebrate muscles used for ultrastructural studies. J. Muscle Res. Cell Motil. 8, 358–71.
DUBOWITZ, V. & BROOKE, M. H. (1973) Muscle Biopsy: A Modern Approach. London: W. B. Saunders.
FRANZINI-ARMSTRONG, C., GILLY, W. F., ALADJEM, E. & APPELT, D. (1987) Golgi stain identifies three types of fibres in fish muscle. J. Muscle Res. Cell Motil. 8, 418–27.
GORZA, L. (1990) Identification of a novel type 2 fiber population in mammalian skeletal muscle by combined use of histochemical myosin ATPase and anti-myosin monoclonal antibodies. J. Histochem. Cytochem. 38, 257–65.
HARFORD, J. J. & SQUIRE, J. M. (1986) The ‘crystalline’ myosin crossbridge array in relaxed bony fish muscles. Biophys. J. 50, 145–55.
HARFORD, J. J. & SQUIRE, J. M. (1990) Static and time-resolved X-ray diffraction studies of fish muscle. In Molecular Mechanisms in Muscular Contraction (edited by SQUIRE, J. M.) pp. 287–320. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan Press.
HARFORD, J. J. & SQUIRE, J.M. (1992) Evidence for structurally different attached states of myosin cross-bridges on actin during contraction of fish muscle. Biophys. J. 63, 387–96.
HARFORD, J. J., LUTHER, P. K. & SQUIRE, J. M. (1993) Equatorial A-band and I-band X-ray diffraction from relaxed and active fish muscle: further details of myosin crossbridge behaviour (submitted).
JOHNSTON, I. A. & LUCKING, M. (1978) Temperature induced variation in the distribution of different types of muscle fibres in the goldfish (Carassius auratus). J. Comp. Physiol. 124, 111–16.
JOHNSTON, I. A., PATTERSON, S., WARD, P. & GOLDSPINK, G. (1974) The histochemical demonstration of myofibrillar adenosine triphosphatase activity in fish muscle. Can. J. Zool. 52, 871–7.
KILARSKI, W. (1990) Histochemical characterisation of myotomal muscle in the roach, Rutilis rutilis L.J. Fish Biol. 36, 353–62.
KORNELIUSSEN, H., DAHL, H. A. & PAULSEN, J. E. (1978) Histochemical definition of muscle fibre types in the trunk musculature of a teleost fish (cod, Gadus morhua L.). Histochemistry 55, 1–16.
LANGFELD, K. S., CROCKFORD, T. & JOHNSTON, I. A. (1991) Temperature acclimation in the common carp: force-velocity characteristics and myosin subunit composition of slow muscle fibres. J. Exp. Biol. 155, 291–304.
LÄNNERGREN, J. (1979) An intermediate type of muscle fibre in Xenopus laevis. Nature 279. 254–6.
LUTHER, P. K. & CROWTHER, R. A. (1984) Three-dimensional reconstruction from tilted sections of fish muscle M-band. Nature 307, 566–8.
LUTHER, P. K., MUNRO, P. M. G. & SQUIRE, M. J. (1981) Three-dimensional structure of the vertebrate muscle A-band. III. M-region structures and myosin filament symmetry. J. Mol. Biol. 151, 703–30.
MABUCHI, K. & SRETER, F. A. (1980) Actomysoin ATPase II: fibre typing by histochemical ATPase reaction. Muscle Nerve 3, 233–9.
MASCARELLO, F. & ROWLERSON, A. M. (1992) Myosin isoform transitions during development of extra-ocular and masticatory muscles in the fetal rat. Anat. Embryol. 185, 143–53.
MASCARELLO, F., ROMANELLO, M. G. & SCAPOLO, P. A. (1986) Histochemical and immunohistochemical profile of pink muscle fibres in some teleosts. Histochemistry 84, 251–5.
MORGAN, D. L. & PROSKE, U. (1984) Vertebrate slow muscle: its structure, pattern of innervation and mechanical properties. Physiol. Rev. 64, 103–69.
Rowlerson, A. & Spurway, N. C. (1988) Histochemical and immunohistochemical properties of skeletal muscle fibres from Rana and Xenopus. Histochem. J. 20, 657–73.
ROWLERSON, A., SCAPOLO, P. A., MASCARELLO, F., CARPENE, E. & VEGGETTI, A. (1985) Comparative study of myosins present in the lateral muscle of some fish: species variations in myosin isoforms and their distribution in red, pink and white muscle. J. Muscle Res. Cell Motil. 6, 601–40.
SÄNGER, A., CLAASSEN, H. & ADAM, H. (1988) The arrangement of muscle fibre types in the axial muscle of various Cyprinids (Teleostei). Zool. Anz. 221, 44–9.
SCAPOLO, P. A. & ROWLERSON, A. (1987) Pink lateral muscle in the carp (Cyprinus carpio L): histochemical properties and myosin composition. Experientia 43, 384–86.
SCAPOLO, P. A., VEGGETTI, A., MASCARELLO, F. & ROMANELLO, M. G. (1988) Development transitions of myosin isoforms and organisation of the lateral muscle in the teleost Dicentrarchus labrax (L). Anat. Embryol. 178, 287–95.
SCHIAFFINO, S., SAGGIN, L., VIEL, A., AUSONI, S., SARTORE, S. & GORZA, L. (1986) Muscle fiber types identified by monoclonal antibodies to myosin heavy chains. In Biochemical Aspects of Physical Exercise (edited by BENZI, G., PACKER, L. & SILIPRANDI, N.) pp. 27–34. North Holland: Elsevier Science Publishers.
SMITH, R. S. & OVALLE, W.K. (1973) Varieties of fast and slow extrafusal muscle fibres in amphibian hind limb muscles. J. Anat. 116, 1–24
SPURWAY, N. C. & ROWLERSON, A. (1989) Quantitative analysis of histochemical and immunohistochemical reactions in skeletal muscle fibres of Rana and Xenopus. Histochem. J. 21, 461–74.
SQUIRE, J. M., PODOLSKY, R. J., BARRY, J. S., YU, L. C. & BRENNER, B. (1991) X-ray diffraction testing for weak-binding cross-bridges in relaxed bony fish muscle fibres at low ionic strength. J. Str. Biol. 107, 221–6.
SQUIRE, J. M., HARFORD, J. J. & MORRIS, E. P. (1993) Muscle—The Movie. Image Processing. Spring pp. 22–3.
URFI, A. J. & TRALESARA, C. L. (1989) Response of pectoral adductor muscle of Channa punctata to altered workload. Indian J. Exp. Biol. 27, 668–9.
VEGGETTI, A., MASCARELLO, F., SCAPOLO, P. A., ROWLERSON, A. & CANDIA CARNEVALI, M. D. (1993) Muscle growth and myosin isoform transitions during development of a small teleost fish, Poecilia reticulata (Peters) (Atheriniformes Poecilidae): a histochemical, immunohistochemical, ultrastructural and morphometric study. Anat. Embryol. 187, 353–61.
WALESBY, N. J. & JOHNSTON, I. A. (1989) Fibre types in the locomotory muscles of an antarctic teleost, Notothenia rossii. Cell Tissue Res. 208, 143–64.
ZAWADOWSKA, B. & KILARSKI, W. (1984) Histochemical characterisation of the muscle fiber types of the teleost (Esox lucius L.). Acta Histochem. 75, 91–100.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chayen, N.E., Rowlerson, A.M. & Squire, J.M. Fish muscle structure: fibre types in flatfish and mullet fin muscles using histochemistry and antimyosin antibody labelling. J Muscle Res Cell Motil 14, 533–542 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00297216
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00297216