scholarly journals Unusual thick and thin filament packing in a crustacean muscle

1978 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
AB Eastwood ◽  
DS Wood ◽  
JP Reuben

The proximal accessory flexor (PAF) of the myochordotonal organ (MCO) in the meropodite of crayfish walking legs contains two populations of muscle fibers which are distinguishable by their diameters. The large accessory (LA) fibers are 40-80 micrometer in diam and are similar in ultrastructure to other slow crustacean fibers. The small accessory (SA) fibers are 1-12 micrometer in diam and have a unique myofilament distribution at normal body lengths. There is extensive double overlap of thin filaments at these lengths, and some of them form bundles that may extend the length of the sarcomere. In the middle of the sarcomeres, thick and thin filaments are totally segregated from each other. When the fibers are stretched to lengths beyond double overlap length, the myofilament patterns are conventional. The segregated pattern is reestablished when stretched fibers are allowed to shorten passively. The length-tension relationship of the SA fibers is described by a linear ascending branch, a plateau, and a linear descending branch. The ascending branch encompasses normal body lengths from slack length (Ls) with maximum double overlap to the length at which double overlap ceases (1.8 X Ls). The descending phase is comparable to that of other skeletal muscles. That is, tension decreases in proportion with the reduction in thick-thin filament interdigitation (2 X Ls to 3 X Ls).

2000 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 567-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danny A. Riley ◽  
James L. W. Bain ◽  
Joyce L. Thompson ◽  
Robert H. Fitts ◽  
Jeffrey J. Widrick ◽  
...  

Soleus muscle fibers were examined electron microscopically from pre- and postflight biopsies of four astronauts orbited for 17 days during the Life and Microgravity Sciences Spacelab Mission (June 1996). Myofilament density and spacing were normalized to a 2.4-μm sarcomere length. Thick filament density (∼1,062 filaments/μm2) and spacing (∼32.5 nm) were unchanged by spaceflight. Preflight thin filament density (2,976/μm2) decreased significantly ( P < 0.01) to 2,215/μm2 in the overlap A band region as a result of a 17% filament loss and a 9% increase in short filaments. Normal fibers had 13% short thin filaments. The 26% decrease in thin filaments is consistent with preliminary findings of a 14% increase in the myosin-to-actin ratio. Lower thin filament density was calculated to increase thick-to-thin filament spacing in vivo from 17 to 23 nm. Decreased density is postulated to promote earlier cross-bridge detachment and faster contraction velocity. Atrophic fibers may be more susceptible to sarcomere reloading damage, because force per thin filament is estimated to increase by 23%.


1979 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 814-819 ◽  
Author(s):  
K N Christie ◽  
P J Stoward

Catalase has been localized immunocytochemically with anti-bovine catalase in long thin filament structures in aerobic type I fibers in the skeletal muscles of normal and genetically dystrophic hamsters. The filaments range in length from 1 to 60 micron, are orientated regularly along the long axis of the fibers, and also seem to surround and project from muscle nuclei. The enzyme thus appears to be more prominent in the sarcoplasmic reticulum than in peroxisomes, and in this situation is suitably placed for destroying toxic hydrogen peroxide which may be continously generated in aerobic fibers.


1991 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Kruger ◽  
J Wright ◽  
K Wang

Nebulin, a family of giant proteins with size-variants from 600 to 900 kD in various skeletal muscles, have been proposed to constitute a set of inextensible filaments anchored at the Z line (Wang, K., and J. Wright. 1988. J. Cell Biol. 107:2199-2212). This newly discovered filament of the skeletal muscle sarcomere is an attractive candidate for a length-regulating template of thin filaments. To evaluate this hypothesis, we address the question of coextensiveness of nebulin and the thin filament by searching for a correlation between the size of nebulin variants and the length distribution of the thin filaments in several skeletal muscles. A positive linear correlation indeed exists for a group of six skeletal muscles that display narrow thin filament length distributions. To examine the molecular and architectural differences of nebulin size-variants, we carried out immunoelectron microscopic studies to map out epitope profiles of nebulin variants in these muscles. For this purpose, a panel of mAbs to distinct nebulin epitopes was produced against rabbit nebulin purified by an improved protocol. Epitope profiles of nebulin variants in three skeletal muscles revealed that (a) nebulin is inextensible since nebulin epitopes maintain a fixed distance to the Z line irrespective of the degree of sarcomere stretch; (b) a single nebulin polypeptide spans a minimal distance of 0.9 microns from the Z line; (c) nebulin contains repeating epitopes that are spaced at 40 nm or its multiples; (d) nebulin repeats coincide with thin filament periodicity; (e) nebulin variants differ mainly at either or both ends; and (f) nebulin remains in the sarcomere in actin-free sarcomeres produced by gelsolin treatment. Together, these data suggest that nebulin is an inextensible full-length molecular filament that is coextensive with thin filaments in skeletal muscles. We propose that nebulin acts as a length-regulating template that determines thin filament length by matching its large number of 40-nm repeating domains with an equal number of helical repeats of the actin filaments.


Author(s):  
Z. M. Yaschyshyn ◽  
S. L. Popel

The aim: to study the dynamics of histological and ultrastructural changes in muscle fibers and their neuromuscular endings under conditions of prolonged hypokinesia at different stages of ontogenesis. Methods. Studied skeletal muscles and their peripheral nervous apparatus of laboratory male Wistar rats aged 30 to 270 days. The restriction of motor activity was carried out in special canister cells for 30, 60, 90, and 240 days (5 animals for each term). To determine the type of muscle fiber, the Nahlas histochemical method was used, the Kulchitsky method was used to detect myelinated nerve fibers, the Bilshovsky-Gros method and the electron microscopic method to identify neuromuscular endings. Results. The data of histological and electron microscopic examination of skeletal muscle fibers and their neuromuscular endings under conditions of prolonged hypokinesia indicate their regular restructuring during the development of muscles, the formation of their synapses and structures that are associated with them at different stages of ontogenesis. Conclusion. The study provides an in-depth understanding of the relative frequency and nature of the disturbance of the neuromuscular endings during prolonged hypokinesia and its effect on the dynamics of structural adjustment of individual types of muscle fibers in ontogenesis.


Author(s):  
Z. M. Yaschyshyn ◽  
S. L. Popel

The aim: to study the dynamics of histological and ultrastructural changes in muscle fibers and their neuromuscular endings under conditions of prolonged hypokinesia at different stages of ontogenesis. Methods. Studied skeletal muscles and their peripheral nervous apparatus of laboratory male Wistar rats aged 30 to 270 days. The restriction of motor activity was carried out in special canister cells for 30, 60, 90, and 240 days (5 animals for each term). To determine the type of muscle fiber, the Nahlas histochemical method was used, the Kulchitsky method was used to detect myelinated nerve fibers, the Bilshovsky-Gros method and the electron microscopic method to identify neuromuscular endings. Results. The data of histological and electron microscopic examination of skeletal muscle fibers and their neuromuscular endings under conditions of prolonged hypokinesia indicate their regular restructuring during the development of muscles, the formation of their synapses and structures that are associated with them at different stages of ontogenesis. Conclusion. The study provides an in-depth understanding of the relative frequency and nature of the disturbance of the neuromuscular endings during prolonged hypokinesia and its effect on the dynamics of structural adjustment of individual types of muscle fibers in ontogenesis.


2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 336-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Brunner ◽  
Annina Schmid ◽  
Ali Sheikhzadeh ◽  
Margareta Nordin ◽  
Jangwhon Yoon ◽  
...  

The authors conducted a systematic review of the literature for scientific articles in selected databases to determine the effects of aging on Type II muscle fibers in human skeletal muscles. They found that aging of Type II muscle fibers is primarily associated with a loss of fibers and a decrease in fiber size. Morphological changes with increasing age particularly included Type II fiber grouping. There is conflicting evidence regarding the change of proportion of Type II fibers. Type II muscle fibers seem to play an important role in the aging process of human skeletal muscles. According to this literature review, loss of fibers, decrease in size, and fiber-type grouping represent major quantitative changes. Because the process of aging involves various complex phenomena such as fiber-type coexpression, however, it seems difficult to assign those changes solely to a specific fiber type.


1998 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
BARRY M. MILLMAN

Millman, Barry M. The Filament Lattice of Striated Muscle. Physiol. Rev. 78: 359–391, 1998. — The filament lattice of striated muscle is an overlapping hexagonal array of thick and thin filaments within which muscle contraction takes place. Its structure can be studied by electron microscopy or X-ray diffraction. With the latter technique, structural changes can be monitored during contraction and other physiological conditions. The lattice of intact muscle fibers can change size through osmotic swelling or shrinking or by changing the sarcomere length of the muscle. Similarly, muscle fibers that have been chemically or mechanically skinned can be compressed with bathing solutions containing very large inert polymeric molecules. The effects of lattice change on muscle contraction in vertebrate skeletal and cardiac muscle and in invertebrate striated muscle are reviewed. The force developed, the speed of shortening, and stiffness are compared with structural changes occurring within the lattice. Radial forces between the filaments in the lattice, which can include electrostatic, Van der Waals, entropic, structural, and cross bridge, are assessed for their contributions to lattice stability and to the contraction process.


1989 ◽  
Vol 257 (1) ◽  
pp. C29-C35 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Manfredi ◽  
R. Marquetant ◽  
A. D. Magid ◽  
E. W. Holmes

The muscle isozyme of adenylosuccinate synthetase (AdSS), an enzyme of the purine nucleotide cycle, has previously been shown to bind to purified F-actin in buffers of low ionic strength and pH (Ogawa et al. Eur. J. Biochem. 85: 331-338, 1978). We have extended these observations by measuring the association of both crude and purified AdSS with the contractile proteins of muscle in buffers of physiological ionic strength and pH. Under these conditions, the enzyme binds to F-actin, actin-tropomyosin complexes, reconstructed thin filaments, and myofibrils but not to myosin. The apparent dissociation constant of 1.2 microM and binding maximum of 2.6 nmol enzyme/mg myofibrils indicate that binding of AdSS to myofibrils can be physiologically significant. The results suggest that AdSS in muscle may be associated with the thin filament of myofibrils.


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