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Journal of Electron Microscopy Advance Access originally published online on January 24, 2008
Journal of Electron Microscopy 2008 57(2):59-66; doi:10.1093/jmicro/dfm040
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Microscopy. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Regeneration of muscle fibers in the extensor digitorum longus muscle of the aged rat

Junzo Desaki*

Department of Integrated Basic Medical Research, Ehime University School of Medicine, Toon, Ehime 791-0295, Japan

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: desaki{at}m.ehime-u.ac.jp

Regeneration of muscle fibers was observed in the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle of aged (24 and 27 months) Wistar rats. The aged muscles consisted almost exclusively of medium-sized muscle fibers. In addition to degenerating and/or atrophied muscle fibers, very small muscle fibers <10 µm in diameter were observed in some muscle bundles which sporadically distributed in the muscle. In the degenerating muscle fibers, satellite cells mostly appeared to be normal, possibly surviving within the scaffold of basal lamina to form new (regenerating) muscle fibers. However, some of the satellite cells were degenerated and destroyed, suggesting the decrease in number of muscle fibers. On the other hand, very small muscle fibers existed between small and/or medium-sized muscle fibers or in the wide interstitial spaces between them solitarily or in small groups. In addition, immature muscle cells having a centrally located nucleus and sporadically distributed myofilaments were observed among the small and/or medium-sized muscle fibers and partially lacked a layer of basal lamina. These immature muscle cells were often closely apposed to fibroblasts with some slender cytoplasmic processes and/or to each other without an interposing basal lamina. These findings suggest that in addition to satellite cells within the basal lamina tubes, some of the regenerating muscle fibers in the aged EDL muscle may be originated from mesenchymal cells such as fibroblasts in the interstitial spaces.

Keywords     degeneration and regeneration, scaffold of basal lamina, satellite cell, immature muscle cell, fibroblast, aged EDL muscle

Received     21 May 2007, accepted 20 December 2007


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