title: Myosin heavy chain isoform transformation in single fibres from m. vastus lateralis in spinal cord injured individuals: effects of long-term functional electrical stimulation (FES).
abstract: The myosin heavy chain (MHC) composition of single fibres from m. vastus lateralis of five spinal- cord-injured (SCI) individuals was analysed by Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) before, and after 6 and 12 months of functional electrical stimulation (FES)-training, administrated for 30 min three times per week. Prior to FES training 37.2% of the fibres contained only MHC IIB, 21.2% only MHC IIA, and 40.7% co-expressed MHC IIA and MHC IIB. After 6 months of FES-training the number of fibres containing only MHC IIB was reduced to 2.6% (P < 0.05), the number of fibres containing only MHC IIA was increased to 44.3% (P < 0.05), and the number of fibres co-expressing MHC IIA and MHC IIB was 50.9% (ns). After 12 months almost all fibres (91.2%, P < 0.05) contained only MHC IIA. The number of fibres containing only MHC IIB was 2.3% and the fibres co-expressing MHC IIA and IIB had decreased to 4.6% (P < 0.05). The amount of fibres containing only MHC I never exceeded 0.5%. Likewise, the number of fibres co-expressing MHC I and MHC IIA was below 2% throughout the study period. In total, the MHC composition of 1596 single fibres was determined. This study shows that FES-training of paralysed human skeletal muscle administrated over a prolonged period of time, can lead to a marked switch in MHC expression from about equal amounts of MHC IIA and MHC IIB to an almost total dominance of MHC IIA.
authors.affiliation: August Krogh Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark .
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mohr
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Biering-Sørensen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Galbo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kjaer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004586:Electrophoresis; D015444:Exercise; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D018995:Myosin Heavy Chains / Q000502:physiology*; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000737:chemistry; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D018995:Myosin Heavy Chains