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Three muscle fibre types in the axial muscle of axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum Shaw) A quantitative lightand electron microscopic study

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Summary

Morphometric analysis by light microscopy of p-phenylene-diamine stained semithin sections of axolotl tail muscle revealed differences in the cross-sectional area of the fibres and in the number of mitochondria and of lipid inclusions per fibre, and indicated the presence of three distinct types of fibres. The tripartition was found to be statistically highly significant.

Representative fibres from each group established by light microscopic morphometry were subjected to an ultrastructural morphometric analysis. The volume content of mitochondria amounted to 9.8% of the fibre volume for red, 4.0% for intermediate and 0.8% for white fibres. The myofibrils composed 60%, 70% and 83% in the same fibres. The volume of the sarcotubular system (t-tubuli and sarcoplasmic reticulum) was 2.5% in red, 4.5% in intermediate and 11.7% in white fibres. The three fibre types also demonstrated differences in myofibrillar cross-striation pattern and number of triads. The reliability of the light microscopic morphometry was tested by correlation with EM montages of the representative fibres.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Anatomy, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Geir Kåre Totland

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  1. Geir Kåre Totland
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The author would like to express his thanks to Dr. Per R. Flood for his critical revision of the manuscript. I also wish to thank Mrs. Siri Nome Eikhom for advice on the statistical analysis, and Norwegian Research Council for Science and Humanities for financial support

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Totland, G.K. Three muscle fibre types in the axial muscle of axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum Shaw) A quantitative lightand electron microscopic study. Cell Tissue Res. 168, 65–78 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00219724

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00219724

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