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Semitendinosus Muscle Development in Fetally Decapitated Pigs

US Department of Agriculture^,2, Athens, GA 30613

Abstract

The effect of decapitation on semitendinosus muscle growth and development was studied in the fetal pig. Pig fetuses were decapitated at 45 d of gestation and histochemical and biochemical analyses conducted at 110 d of gestation. Decapitation prevented or delayed the conversion of secondary fibers from Type II to Type I histochemistry as is characteristics of the normal semitendinosus. Morphological analyses indicated either a prolonged stage of secondary myofiber formation or an inhibition of secondary myofiber hypertrophy in muscle from decapitated fetuses. Biochemical and histochemical analyses indicated that muscle from decapitated fetuses was biochemically and chemically immature compared with that from normal fetuses.

¹ The authors thank Dr. R. W. Seerley, Dept. of Anim. Sci., Univ. of Georgia, for providing animal facilities and for maintaining the animals used in this study.

² Richard B. Russell Agr. Res. Center, P.O. Box 5677.