Four selected leg muscles (gastrocnemius, soleus, vastus lateralis and intermedius) from thirty-two humans were autopsied within 25 hr of death and examined histochemically. The results of histochemical myofibrillar adenosine triphosphatase activity demonstrated that the soleus and vastus intermedius muscles have a higher proportion of slow twitch fibres (70%, 47%) than their synergists, gastrocnemius and vastus lateralis, respectively. The gastrocnemius contains about 50% slow twitch fibres and the vastus lateralis about 32%. Similar proportions of slow and fast twitch fibres have been reported for these hindlimb muscles in other mammals. Human muscles, however, differ from other mammalian muscles in that the proportion of slow and fast twitch fibres were similar in the superficial and deep regions of the muscles examined. Fast twitch oxidative glycolytic fibres in sedentary humans were observed less frequently, and they are less prominent in terms ofoxidative enzymatic activity when compared to similar fibres of several laboratory mammals studied previously.

Thyroidal trophic effects on slow-twitch skeletal muscle properties were compared in normally innervated and denervated soleus of rats maintained at different thyroid states. Hypothyroidism caused fast to slow changes in fiber type composition (99% decrease in proportion of type II fibers), ATPase activities (down 20-30%), myosin light chain pattern (54% less fast light chains), calcium uptake by SR (down 60%), LDH activity (down 11%), and isozyme pattern (9% decrease in M-subunits). Changes of similar magnitude but opposite in direction were induced by thyrotoxicosis. Denervations reversed, to varying degrees, the fast to slow transformations observed in hypothyroidism. However the slow to fast changes found in hyperthyroidism were facilitated rather than inhibited by denervation. These latter results clearly show that the hormone effect can be elicited in the absence of motor innervation. Furthermore, denervation alone caused slow to fast changes in euthyroid muscles. From these results, it is proposed that denervation and dysthyreosis alter muscle properties by independent mechanisms. Our data favor a direct action of thyroid hormone over a neurally mediated mechanism.

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