HISTOCHEMISTRY AND CYTOCHEMISTRY OF EXPERIMENTALLY DENERVATED GUINEA PIG MUSCLE. I.

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Abstract
Histochemical analysis of skeletal muscle fibers gives information not obtained by quantitative biochemical techniques. This is even more evident in denervated muscle. The periodic acid Schiff (PAS)-stained glycogen and the phosphorylase of the muscle fibers decrease from the first we week after denervation, and both substances are virtually absent by the third week after denervation. The myofibrillar A-band adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) is hardly affected in the 11 weeks after denervation, although a very slight decrease was apparent from the fifth week after denervation. The oxidative enzymes decrease individually from the first weeks after denervation: diphosphopyridine nucleatide (DPN)-linked a-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase and succinate dehydrogenase activity were virtually absent 11 weeks after denervation; DPN-linked lactate dehydrogenase and reduced diphosphapyridine nucleotide (DPNH) dehydrogenase were severly reduced after denervation, yet some activity remained at the eleventh week. Cytochrome oxidase and "menadione-linked" a-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase were moderately reduced after denervation. There was only a slight temporary reduction in the glycogen content of the affected muscle after tenotomy. Tenotomy did not affect the enzymatic activities associated with oxidase metabolism, transfer of high energy phosphate or glycogenolysis. The histo-chemical distinction between muscle fibers of high and low activity was lost in the DPN-linked a-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase, DPN-linked lactate dehydrogenase, DPNH dehydrogenase and cytochrome oxidase reactions after denervation. The distinction was preserved in the phosphorylase, glycogen, myofibrillar A-band ATPase and "menadione-linked" a-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase reactions, (especially in the last 2.) Histochemical distinction was not readily apparent in the succinate dehydrogenase reactions. The histochemical findings in denervated muscle of severe loss of phosphorylase activity (in the aqueous sarcoplasm) and the relative preservation of the ATPase activity (in the myofibrils) agree with the biochemical data which show a marked decrease on sarcoplasmic protein fraction and a relative preservation of the myofibrillar protein fraction after denervation.

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