Summary
Muscle biopsies from 9 acromegalics were examined by conventional histological and histochemical techniques. Six biopsies were also examined with the electron microscope. Isolated fibre necrosis or vacuolar degeneration was found in 3 biopsies and increased numbers of internal nuclei in 5 biopsies. A high glycogen content was demonstrated in many fibres in each biopsy by the PAS method and by electron microscopy. Routine enzyme histochemical techniques showed hypertrophy of type I and type II fibres in 2 subjects, hypertrophy of type I fibres only in 2 subjects, atrophy of both fibre types in 2 subjects and atrophy of type II fibres only in 4 subjects. Electron microscopy showed large amounts of lipfuscin pigment in many fibres while some fibres had large sarcolemmal nuclei with prominent nucleoli, and a prominent Golgi apparatus. Satellite cells were found in 3 biopsies. In one biopsy coiled membranous configurations thought to consist of phospholipids, and tubular aggregates thought to be derived from degenerating mitochondria were present at the periphery of a number of type II fibres. It is postulated that some of the ultrastructural changes found in muscle fibres are the result of the growth hormone-induced hypertrophic process and the increased turnover of cytoplasmic components associated with it while others reflect the atrophic process in some muscle fibres.
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This work was carried out in the Department of Neurology and Experimental Neuropathology, The Regional Neurological Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, U. K., while the author was the F. A. Hadley Travelling Fellow of the University of Western Australia.
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Mastaglia, F.L. Pathological changes in skeletal muscle in acromegaly. Acta Neuropathol 24, 273–286 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00685584
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00685584