glycogen and Muscle-Spasticity

Fast and slow muscle fibers were studied in the flexor digitorum longus (FDL) and soleus (SOL) muscles, respectively, in control and spastic mice. HIstochemical and electron microscopic studies indicated an increased number of mitochondria, a decreased deposition of glycogen and a vesiculation and distension of the sarcoplasmic reticulum in many fast-twitch fibers of the spastic FDL. Similar findings were not evident in the slow-twitch fibers of the spastic SOL. Since the spastic condition causes increased muscular activity as a result of more rapid and prolonged nerve impulse firing, these findings reinforce the idea that a muscle fiber's oxidative capabilities are a function of its activity.

Topics: Adenosine Triphosphatases; Animals; Female; Glycogen; Male; Mice; Mice, Neurologic Mutants; Mitochondria, Muscle; Muscle Spasticity; Muscles; Sarcoplasmic Reticulum

Deposits similar to corpora amylacea were observed by electron microscopy within myelinated axons in the peripheral nerves in a case of familial spastic paralysis. Ultrastructurally the deposits consisted of randomly interlacing short filaments which were closely related to glycogen granules present in the periphery of the deposits. A possible relationship between the filamentous structures and glycogen granules is discussed. The significance of this inclusion and of related bodies is also discussed.

Topics: Adult; Amyloid; Axons; Cytoplasmic Granules; Glycogen; Humans; Inclusion Bodies; Male; Muscle Spasticity; Nervous System Diseases; Peripheral Nerves

Muscle fiber composition and oxidative and glycolytic enzymatic activity have been studied with complete traumatic transection of the spinal cord and spastic paralysis of the lower extremities. Muscle sample were taken by means of needle biopsy from the vastus lateralis, gastrocnemius, and soleus muscles. Biopsies were also taken for comparison from the deltoid muscle. Fibers staining darkly for alkaline stable myofibrillar ATP-ase (type II) dominated or were the only fibers identified in the paralysed muscles. The deltoid muscles of the same patients had a rather even mixture of type I and II fibers. Staining pattern was reversed after acid preincubation (pH 4.3). Mean diameters in the paralysed muscles were reduced for both fiber types. All fibers stained relatively weakly for NADH-diaphorase. Succinyldehydrogenase activity was low and phosphofructokinase activity usually moderately reduced. The findings imply that neuronal influence on the muscular fibers had led to a change in the staining characteristics of the muscle fibers. Such a change migh indicate altered contractile characteristics, though the detailed nature of the observed findings in still unclear.

Topics: Adenosine Triphosphatases; Adult; Dihydrolipoamide Dehydrogenase; Female; Glycerolphosphate Dehydrogenase; Glycogen; Humans; Leg; Male; Middle Aged; Muscle Spasticity; Muscles; Phosphofructokinase-1; Spinal Cord Injuries

Topics: Congenital Hypothyroidism; Female; Glycogen; Humans; Ichthyosis; Infant; Intellectual Disability; Linoleic Acids; Lipid Metabolism; Liver; Liver Glycogen; Microscopy, Electron; Muscle Spasticity; Myxedema; Palmitic Acids; Retinal Degeneration