In using Western blot analysis with antibodies raised against recombinant pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK) isoforms PDK2 and PDK4, this study demonstrates selective PDK isoform switching in specific skeletal muscle types in response to high-fat feeding that is associated with altered regulation of PDK activity by pyruvate. The administration of a diet high in saturated fats led to stable (ap...

To determine whether mitochondrial dysfunction is causally related to muscle atrophy with aging, we examined respiratory capacity, H(2) O(2) emission, and function of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) in permeabilized myofibers prepared from four rat muscles that span a range of fiber type and degree of age-related atrophy. Muscle atrophy with aging was greatest in fast-twi...

This paper examines what determines athletic ability between genetics and training. The papers seek to answer why some athletes perform excellently in sprinting, long-distance racing, swimming, jumping, yet they are almost subjected similar training their respective sports. starts by examining constituents of skeletal muscles: slow-twitch oxidative fast-twitch glycolytic fibers, which associate...

Compared with the lean (Fa/-) genotype, obese (fa/fa) Zucker rats have a relative deficiency of muscle phospholipid arachidonate, and skeletal muscle arachidonate in humans is positively correlated with insulin sensitivity. To assess the hypothesis that the positive effects of exercise training on insulin sensitivity are mediated by increased muscle arachidonate, we randomized 20 lean and 20 ob...

The histochemical characteristics, cross-sectional area and capillary of the skeletal muscle fibers of the anterior and posterior regions of the superficial masseter and the temporalis muscles are described for juvenile and adult rhesus monkeys of both sexes. Slow twitch fatigue resistant (S), fast twitch fatigue resistant (FR) and fast twitch fatigable (FF) fibers were found in varying proport...

Denervation induces skeletal muscle atrophy, which primarily impairs oxidative slow twitch fibers. The underlying mechanism of this phenomenon, however, remains to be addressed. We hypothesize that denervation-induced fiber-specific atrophy may result from the distinct activities of different signaling pathways that are involved in protein synthesis and degradation in fast- and slow-twitch fibe...

The unweighting model is a unique whole animal model that will permit the future delineation of the mechanism(s) by which gravity maintains contractile mass in postural (slow-twitch) skeletal muscle. Since the origination of the model of rodent hindlimb unweighting almost one decade ago, about half of the 59 refereed articles in which this model was utilized have been published in the Journal o...

Increases in contraction-stimulated glucose transport in fast-twitch rat epitrochlearis muscle are mediated by AMPK- and Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CAMK)-dependent signaling pathways. However, recent studies provide evidence suggesting that contraction-stimulated glucose transport in slow-twitch skeletal muscle is mediated through an AMPK-independent pathway. The purpose of the p...

Mammalian skeletal muscle is broadly characterized by the presence of two distinct categories of muscle fibers called type I "red" slow twitch and type II "white" fast twitch, which display marked differences in contraction strength, metabolic strategies, and susceptibility to fatigue. The relative representation of each fiber type can have major influences on susceptibility to obesity, diabete...

Skeletal muscle has a nonconventional Golgi complex (GC), the organization of which has been a subject of controversy in the past. We have now examined the distribution of the GC by immunofluorescence and immunogold electron microscopy in whole fibers from different rat muscles, both innervated and experimentally denervated. The total number of GC elements, small polarized stacks of cisternae, ...