The characteristics of myosin heavy chain-based fiber types in porcine longissimus dorsi muscle.

The aim of this study is to type fibers from porcine longissimus dorsi (LD) muscles according to their distribution of myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms as well as to investigate fiber characteristics. Four pure types, including types I, IIA, IIX, and IIB were labeled and two hybrid fiber types were subdivided into type IIAX and IIXB by immunohistochemistry using four monoclonal antibodies. Porcine LD muscles were found to have 92.79 (number) and 92.10% (area) of pure type composition, while the composition of hybrid fibers was 8.22 (number) and 9.71% (area). The activities of myosin ATPase increased in the following order: type I, IIAX, IIA = IIX = IIB and IIXB. The succinate dehydrogenase and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase activities were higher in fiber types I and IIB, respectively. The characteristics of hybrid fibers were observed that their characteristics did not lie between the properties for their respective pure phenotypes.