M-protein in chicken cardiac muscle.

Chicken cardiac muscle myofibrils lack a visible M-line. Antibodies against chicken breast muscle M-protein, an M-line component with M_r = 165 000, were used to demonstrate the presence of a similar protein in chicken heart muscle. The immunoreplica technique showed the heart protein to have about the same molecular weight as the breast muscle M-protein on polyacrylamide slab gels in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Positive staining within the H-zone was observed when the indirect immunofluorescence technique was used to localize the M-protein in isolated heart myofibrils. This result was confirmed by electron microscopic investigations on longitudinal sections of antibody-incubated heart muscle fiber bundles showing the antibody against M-protein to be bound within a region corresponding to the M-line region of breast muscle myofibrils.