Histochemical properties of skeletal muscle fibers in streptozotocin-diabetic rats.

The response of rat gastrocnemius muscle fibers to chronic streptozotocindiabetes was studied. Transverse sections of this muscle from normal and diabetic rats were histochemically assayed for reduced diphosphopyridine nucleotide-diaphorase, myofibrillar adenosine triphosphatase, mitochondrial alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase, beta-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase, and alkaline phosphatase activities. Cross-sectional areas of the fiber types were measured, and fiber capillarization and populations estimated. Chemically-induced diabetes appeared to have little effect on the metabolic or morphological properties of slow-twitch fibers. However, a general dedifferentiation occurred in the 2 fast-twitch fiber populations. There was a loss of oxidative potential in the fast-twitch-oxidative-glycolytic fibers, and a significant decrease in size in the fast-twitch-glycolytic fibers. No change in the proportions of slow- and fast-twitch fibers in the muscles of diabetic rats occurred. It is concluded that hypoinsulinism has differential effects on the 3 fiber types in heterogeneous rat skeletal muscle, and that slow-twitch fibers are least affected by the diabetic condition.