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Discrimination between fast- and slow-twitch fibres of guinea pig skeletal muscle using the relative surface density of junctional transverse tubule membrane

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Summary

The black reaction of Golgi was used to infiltrate transverse (T) tubules in fast-twitch glycolytic (FW), fast-twitch oxidative-glycolytic (FR) and slow-twitch (S) type fibres in muscles of guinea pigs. Non-junctional (fT) and junctional (jT) segments of the T-rubule network are clearly demarcated by this technique. Digitized planimetry and direct measurements were used to determine the proportion of T-tubule network forming junctions with the sarcoplasmic reticulum (%L jT ) and to estimate the surface density (surface area per fibre volume) of total and junctional T membrane. From these data, the volume density (number per fibre volume) of junctional feet was calculated. All three types of fibres have approximately equal surface density of T tubules, but the FW and FR fibres have a much higher proportion of jT. The calculated volume density of feet is twice as high in fast-twitch as in slow-twitch fibres.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    C. Franzini-Armstrong

  2. Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    C. Franzini-Armstrong, D. G. Ferguson & C. Champ

  3. Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, 45267-0576, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    D. G. Ferguson

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  1. C. Franzini-Armstrong
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  2. D. G. Ferguson
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  3. C. Champ
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Franzini-Armstrong, C., Ferguson, D.G. & Champ, C. Discrimination between fast- and slow-twitch fibres of guinea pig skeletal muscle using the relative surface density of junctional transverse tubule membrane. J Muscle Res Cell Motil 9, 403–414 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01774067

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