Myofiber differentiation in skeletal muscles of newborn runt and normal weight pigs.

Differentiation of myofiber types and proportions of secondary and primary myofibers were investigated in the deep semitendinosus and longissimus muscles of 12-h- and 3-d-old littermate runt and normal birth weight pigs. Runt pigs 12 h after birth had lower proportions of type I fibers in the deep semitendinosus than did normal size pigs, which indicates that in utero stunting delayed the normal differentiation of myofiber histochemical characteristics. More of the type I myofibers had centrally located nuclei in runt pigs than in normal birth weight pigs. Also, newborn runt pigs had lower ratios of secondary to primary myofibers in the deep semitendinosus. This result indicates that the restriction of prenatal myofiber hyperplasia probably had a greater effect on secondary than on primary myofiber formation. None of these differences were observed in the longissimus muscle.