Growth of different types of muscle fibers of the soleus muscle during postnatal ontogeny in the rat

In order to study the development of the m. soleus muscle fibers during postnatal ontogenesis in the rat, methods for revealing ATPase activity of myosin at preincubation in acidic and alcaline medium and lactate dehydrogenase and succinate dehydrogenase activity have been used. The m. soleus undergoes three stages of development. The first stage--from birth of the animal up to the 7th day. During this time the muscle is homogenous. The second stage is characterized by appearance of certain histochemical differences in the muscle fibers. The muscle becomes mixed. During the whole period (in males from the 7th up to the 175th, and in females from the 7th up to the 60th-70th day) transferring of glycolytic fibers into oxidative-glycolytic ones with their successive transformation into oxidative fibers is observed. During the third stage (in males older than 175, and in females older than 60-70 days) the m. soleus converts from the mixed into the homogenous one consisting of oxidative fibers.     

Succession in the morphological organization in human postnatal ontogeny

Preserving morphological organization succession in the human postnatal ontogenesis is studied in the growth processes in 7-17 years old boys. Canonical variables are separated by canonical correlation method, which are those maximally correlated morphological structures relating to each other hierarchically: body--head, body trunk--limbs, brain--face. It is shown that morphological organization succession is provided by preserving the stable level of interdependence between morphological structures, which are under relatively independent genetical control. The stability of this interdependence in disturbed only during the "critical phase" of adolescent spurt, which is characterized by maximal rate of morphofunctional development. After this phase initial level of the interdependence is restored.     

The ontogeny of contractile performance and metabolic capacity in a high-frequency muscle

High-performance muscles such as the shaker muscles in the tails of western diamond-backed rattlesnakes (Crotalus atrox) are excellent systems for studying the relationship between contractile performance and metabolic capacity. We observed that shaker muscle contraction frequency increases dramatically with growth in small individuals but then declines gradually in large individuals. We tested whether metabolic capacity changed with performance, using shaker muscle contraction frequency as an indicator of performance and maximal activities of citrate synthase and lactate dehydrogenase as indicators of aerobic and anaerobic capacities, respectively. Contraction frequency increased 20-fold in 20-100-g individuals but then declined by approximately 30% in individuals approaching 1,000 g. Mass-independent aerobic capacity was positively correlated with contractile performance, whereas mass-independent anaerobic capacity was slightly but negatively correlated with performance; body mass was not correlated with performance. Rattle mass increased faster than the ability to generate force. Early in ontogeny, shaker muscle performance appears to be limited by aerobic capacity, but later performance becomes limited equally by aerobic capacity and the mechanical constraint of moving a larger mass without proportionally thicker muscles. This high-performance muscle appears to shift during ontogeny from a metabolic constraint to combined metabolic and mechanical constraints.     

Physical working capacity of male inhabitants from Upper Surinam

Aerobic power tests were carried out on twenty male Bushnegroes, as part of a medical survey in two villages on the Upper Marowijn river in the interior of Surinam (South America).The subjects were submitted to a discontinuous series of increasing submaximal loads by means of a bicycle ergometer. Heart rate and oxygen uptake were measured at each load. The maximum oxygen uptake was estimated according to Lange Andersen et al. (1971) and used as an index for the physical working capacity.The mean aerobic power of the Bushnegroes was 35 ml O₂/min/kg body weight or 2·2 I O₂/min per individual. These values are low in comparison with results obtained from professional forest workers in Surinam or in other countries.     

Development of different types of muscle fiber in the postnatal ontogeny of guinea pigs

As demonstrates estimation of myosin ATPase and SDG activity, the guinea pig is already born with differentiated muscle fibers (MF), and the first histochemical differences between them take place in the uterine 10 days before birth. Tonic oxidative fibers of the first type, arranging hexagonally, develop especially quickly at early stages of postnatal ontogenesis. Their relative contents up to the end of the observations (185 days) do not change, and area of their transversal section increases but slightly in comparison to the phasic fibers. The main age changes of the muscle tissue are connected with formation and rearrangement of the phasic fibers. The most intensive reconstructions of the phasic fibers coincide with the period of game activity and sex maturation. In mixed muscles the part of the glycolytic fibers increase during the postnatal ontogenesis. In the process of ontogenesis the soleus muscle fully consists of oxidative fibers. The definitive level of the MF development is established after the guinea pigs have reached their sex maturation. Comparing the results of the given investigation with the previous data on development of MF in rats, it is possible to conclude that term and premature animals have various rates in development of the muscle system, however, main stages of myogenesis coincide, though they are connected with various phases of ontogenesis.     

Physical activity and muscle function but not resting energy expenditure impact on weight gain

Understanding whether metabolic factors are predictive of weight gain is important for developing strategies for prevention of weight gain. Recent research has shown that sleeping and resting energy expenditure are not predictive of weight gain. However, exercise endurance, muscular strength, (31)P MRS muscle metabolic economy, and maximum oxygen uptake are independently related to weight gain. Activity-related energy expenditure and the time spent in physical activity are also related to weight gain, with low physical activity explaining approximately 77% of weight gain at 1 year. In addition, weight maintainers spend 80 minutes per day, whereas weight gainers spend less than 20 minutes per day in physical activity equivalent to an intensity of about 4 METS. It is proposed that strength, aerobic fitness, and physical activity are important factors for reducing the rate of weight gain. Although further research is required, these results are suggestive that weight maintenance programs will be more successful if some relatively high-intensity training is included to complement large amounts of low to moderate intense physical activity.     

Development of the endocrine function of the adrenals and gonads of Papio hamadryas in postnatal ontogeny

The hormonal functions of suprarenal glands and gonads were studied in the sacred baboon males and females during different periods of postnatal development. This in view, the content of cortisol, 11-deoxycortisol, pregnenolone, progesterone, 17-oxypregnenolone, 17-oxyprogesterone, 20 alpha-dihydroprogesterone, estrone and estradiol was determined using the radioimmunoassay. The early activation of secretion of the suprarenal androgens, characteristic of the man, is absent during the sexual maturation of the sacred baboon males and females. The level of corticosteroids and their basic precursors, characteristic of the adult sacred baboons, is extablished by the end of 3rd year of life.     

The development of the corticoliberin- and vasopressinergic elements of the rat hypothalamus during postnatal ontogeny

In 10--81-day and adult Wistar rats, neurosecretory cells were revealed which react with antisera to corticoliberin and vasopressin. Morphometric analysis of these cells in the supraoptic, paraventricular and anterior commissural nuclei shows that in the latter vasopressinergic cells develop somewhat later than in the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei. Complete differentiation of neurosecretory cells in all the centres investigated is observed in 2-month animals. Studies were also made on the amount of corticoliberin- and vasopressinergic terminals in the external zone of the median eminence. Vasopressin-immunoreactive fibers are more numerous in young rats than in adult ones. Corticoliberin-positive neurosecretory fibers are more abundant in adult animals. Earlier development of vasopressinergic elements corresponds to a hypothesis of a more ancient origin of nonapeptidergic structures as compared to those producing liberins and statins.     

Effect of hypokinesia and muscle training on catecholamine levels of the myocardium of rats in postnatal ontogeny

Following muscular training and hypokinesia in postnatal ontogenesis (10 weeks) rats were examined by fluorometry for the content of catecholamines at rest and after extreme exertion (swimming). Regular muscular training led to an increase in catecholamine concentration in the myocardium. Hypokinesia decelerated catecholamine accumulation by the myocardium. A single extreme swimming exercise brought about a decrease in catecholamine concentration in the myocardium. The minimal adrenaline concentration was the same, being equal to 0.04 microgram/g crude tissue whatever the age and locomotion pattern.     

The role of genotype in the formation of Leydig cell hormone function during postnatal ontogeny in diallele crosses of laboratory mice

Production of testosterone by Leydig cells during the postnatal ontogeny in pubescence under in vitro stimulation by chorionic gonadotropin, dibutiryl-cAMP, and pregnenolon was studied in males of four inbred mouse lines (BALB/c, RT, CBA/Lac, and A/He) and their F1 reciprocal hybrids. Highly statistically significant association between the animal genotype and age was revealed for all parameters studied, which indicates the genotype-dependent formation of the Leydig cell hormone function during the postnatal ontogeny. The effect of genotype was characterized by two specific features. First, in each postnatal ontogeny stages examined correlative genetic variability in respect of the cAMP- and substrate-dependent indices of Leydig cell reactivity was observed. Second, during postnatal ontogeny coordinated genetic variability was subjected to substantial ontogenetic rearrangements. Definite pattern of genetic differences in the Leydig cell hormone activity was formed only at the late pubertal--early post- pubertal stage (60th day after birth). This process coincided with the completion of the Leydig cell morphological differentiation and the appearance of mature cells in the population. Thus, formation of the Leydig cell hormone activity during postnatal ontogeny is under coordinated genetic control, which is also subjected to substantial changes during pubertal differentiation.