Histochemical and Ultrastructural Changes in Rat Muscle

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Abstract
THE SPECIFIC effects of glucocorticoids on muscle histology have attracted much attention since the recognition that these compounds could induce muscle weakness. Although there have been numerous reports of the light microscopic and ultrastructural changes in muscle under these circumstances,1-10they have not been correlated with the histochemical alterations.11Furthermore, the type of muscle fiber most severely affected has not been clarified, with considerable variation in these observations amongst various reports.6,11,12Part of this inconsistency can be attributed to the species variation of muscle, as measured by the morphological differences and by the pathological response to glucocorticoids. In this report, the enzyme histochemical and ultrastructural changes in rat muscle following adrenal corticotrophic hormone (ACTH), glucocorticoids, and starvation will be described, in addition to changes in average muscle fiber diameters. Materials and Methods Forty-eight Osborn-Mendel rats, weighing 237 to 494 gm, were used. The food containers and