Capillary supply of the quadriceps femoris muscle of man: adaptive response to exercise

Abstract

SUMMARY1. Five subjects trained for 8 weeks on a bicycle ergometer for an average of 40 min/day, four times a week at a work load requiring 80 % of the maximal oxygen uptake (02maX.)-1o2 max. determinations were performed, and muscle biopsies from the quadriceps femoris muscle (vastus lateralis) were taken before, as well as repeatedly during, the training period. The muscle biopsies were histochemically stained for fibre-types (myofibrillar ATPase) and capillaries (amylase-PAS method), and analysed biochemically for succinate dehydrogenase and cytochrome oxidase activities.2. The training programme resulted in a 16% increase in l2max., a 20 % increase in capillary density, a 20 % increase in mean fibre area, and an approximately 40 % increase in the activities of succinate dehydrogenase and cytochrome oxidase.3. The capillary supply to type I, IIA and IIB fibres, expressed as the mean number of capillaries in contact with each fibre-type, relative to fibre-type area, increased equally.4. The present study shows that endurance training constitutes a powerful stimulus for capillary proliferation in human skeletal muscle.

Selective long-term electrical stimulation of fast glycolytic fibres increases capillary supply but not oxidative enzyme activity in rat skeletal muscles

“…Thus endurance training led to an increase in oxidative enzymes prior to the increase in capillary supply (Andersen & Henriksson, 1977), while a parallel increase in the capillary to fibre ratio and proportion of oxidative fibres (Nygaard, 1982) or volume density of mitochondria (Zumstein et al 1983) has been described in different types of training. Similarly, high-intensity endurance training in animals resulted in increased capillary supply accompanied by increased oxidative capacity (Gute et al 1996).…”

Critical determinants of combined sprint and endurance performance: an integrative analysis from muscle fiber to the human body

“…For the C/F ratio, muscle fiber fragments cut by the left and upper margins and associated capillaries were rejected and those cut by right and lower margins were included in the analysis. Longitudinally cut capillaries were counted as 1 at each muscle fiber junction (55). On average, 265 6 95 capillaries and 94 6 35 muscle fibers were analyzed per subject.…”

Testing Metabolic Theories

“…The metabolic rate of small species following endurance training should therefore be relatively Body mass (kg) Post-training relative capillary density Figure 6: Relationship between post-endurance-training capillary density, expressed relative to capillary density of untrained individuals, and body mass. Data are from published studies, including a range of training durations, methods, and intensities (Hermansen and Wachtlova 1971;Andersen and Henriksson 1977;Ingjer 1979;Adolfsson et al 1981;Klausen et al 1981;Hoppeler et al 1984Hoppeler et al , 1985Essén-Gustavsson et al 1989;Bigard et al 1991;Rivero et al 1995;McCall et al 1996;Serrano et al 2000;Amaral et al 2001;Waters et al 2004;Chinsomboon et al 2009;Geng et al 2010). …”