Histochemical and immunohistochemical investigation of muscle fibres in the sturgeon (Chondrostei; Acipenser)

Abstract

Summary The arrangement and innervation of lateral muscle and adductor mandibulae (AM) complex were examined histochemically and immunohistochemically in the sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus. Lateral muscle was arranged in myotomes in which the superficial slow-red muscle layer and the deep fast-white muscle layer were separated by an intermediate layer of pink muscle. The AM complex was composed of a small slow-red muscle layer, but the bulk of the muscle was composed of fast-white fibres. Pink fibres appeared both in an intermediate layer and scattered throughout the fast-white muscle. The innervation appeared to resemble that of elasmobranchs and some teleosts. Slow-red fibres of lateral muscle were multiply innervated, whereas fast-white muscle fibres were focally innervated at the myoseptal end. Pink fibres of lateral muscle and fast-white fibres of AM were focally innervated in the mid-region of the fibres. There were no significant differences between 5 month old and adult sturgeons except for a much better developed intermediate (pink) layer surrounding the lateral line in the adult.