title: Human skeletal muscles replaced to a high degree by white adipose tissue.
abstract: Extreme replacement of skeletal muscles by adipose tissue was found in an 86-year old Japanese male cadaver during dissection practice for medical students at Oita University School of Medicine. Especially, the bilateral sartorius muscles looked overall like adipose tissue. The man had suffered from diabetes mellitus, renal failure, hypertension and hypothyroidism before his death. He was also an alcohol drinker. He had been bedridden late in life. The cause of death was renal failure. In microscopy, the adipose tissue-like sartorius muscle was shown to consist of leptin-positive adipocytes with a small number of degenerated muscle fibers. Fatty replacement, or fatty degeneration, appears to result from endocrine and metabolic disorders, and being bedridden leads to muscle atrophy and damage, although the origin of the adipocytes which emerged in the degenerated muscles is unknown.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Oita University, Japan. kina@oita-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Keisuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ina
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masaki
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tatsukawa
authors.forename: Hironobu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshimatsu
authors.forename: Yoshihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujikura
mesh_terms: D052438:Adipocytes, White / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D052436:Adipose Tissue, White / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D050218:Body Fat Distribution; D002102:Cadaver; D015897:Comorbidity; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D020738:Leptin / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000473:pathology*; D051437:Renal Insufficiency / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D020738:Leptin