Intracellular distribution of succinate dehydrogenase activity in skeletal muscle fibers of geese

Abstract

Samples of iliotibialis anterior and pectoralis muscles were taken from five ganders (Anser domesticus). Serial transverse sections were reacted for succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) and alkali-stable adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase). The distribution of SDH activity within individual muscle fibers was measured with a scanning photometer. In many individual fibers, SDH activity was stronger in the periphery than in the axis. This gradient was steepest (−0.034 ± 0.019 absorbance units per concentric zone of 2 μm diameter measurements) in pectoralis fibers with strong SDH activity. In the pectoralis, radial gradients were correlated with fiber area so that the smallest fibers tended to have the steepest gradients of SDH activity. However, this relationship was reversed in fibers with strong ATPase and weak SDH activity in the iliotibialis anterior, and the largest fibers tended to have the steepest gradients. In all fiber types of both muscles, fibers with greater mean SDH activity tended to have steeper gradients.