Simultaneous histochemical determination of three fiber types in single sections of ovine, bovine and porcine skeletal muscle

Classification of muscle fiber types involves tedious comparisons of serial muscle tissue sections. Procedures that would incorporate pertinent histochemical properties into one simplified assay for the successful differentiation and determination of fiber types were evaluated using muscle samples from three different species (ovine, bovine and porcine). For ovine and porcine muscle tissue, the best staining procedure involved initial preincubation of the tissue section at 4.35 (for ovine) and 4.30 (for porcine) followed by incubating for succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity, then staining for myofibrillar adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity after an acid preincubation and, finally, counterstaining with hematoxylin. For bovine muscle tissue, the procedure involves first incubating for SDH activity, after which the section is incubated at pH 4.15 and then stained for myofibrillar ATPase activity after an acid preincubation, with a concluding counterstaining using hematoxylin. These procedures permit successful differentiation and identification of three fiber types (beta R, alpha R and alpha W) from a single section of muscle tissue with approximately a 65% saving in time and materials. The results of histochemically typing muscle fibers in a single tissue section stained with these techniques were similar to those obtained with the traditional methods comparing serial sections.