Inherited muscular disorder in mutant Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica): an immunohistochemical study.
Cryostat sections of myofibres from the Musculus pectoralis thoracicus of a newly established mutant strain (LWC) of Japanese quail with a myotonic dystrophy-like myopathy were labelled with antibody against myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms and neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM). The characteristic lesions found in sections of muscle of LWC quail stained with haematoxylin and eosin were type 2B fibre atrophy, sarcoplasmic masses, and ring fibres. Immunohistochemical examination failed to distinguish type 2A and 2B fibres in the LWC quail. Antibody to adult fast MHC, which reacted only with type 2A fibres in normal quail, reacted in LWC quail with type 2B fibres, and to a limited degree with type 2A fibres. Sarcoplasmic masses reacted with both fast and slow MHC antibodies. Some masses also reacted with NCAM antibody, but apparently independently of similar reactions in fibres. These findings suggest that the changes observed in the myofibres of the LWC quail were not neurogenic but represented defects in both the plasma membrane and intermediate filaments.
Tanaka
S
S
Laboratory of Comparative Pathology, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
Braga
I S
IS
Kimura
T
T
Ochiai
K
K
Itakura
C
C
Mizutani
M
M
D000818:Animals; D003370:Coturnix; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009135:Muscular Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology* / Q000662:veterinary*; D018995:Myosin Heavy Chains / Q000032:analysis; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000032:analysis
D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules; D018995:Myosin Heavy Chains