Int J Sports Med 1986; 07(3): 123-127
DOI: 10.1055/s-2008-1025748
Originals

© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Structural Changes in Skeletal Muscle Tissue with Heavy-Resistance Exercise*

J. M. Lüthi, H. Howald*, H. Claassen, K. Rösler, P. Vock**, H. Hoppeler
  • Department of Anatomy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  • *Research Institute of the Swiss School for Physical Education and Sports, Magglingen, Switzerland
  • **Department of Radiology, Inselspital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
* This work was supported by grant 3.128.81 from the Swiss National Science Foundation and by Sandoz-Foundation.
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
14 March 2008 (online)

Abstract

Muscle strength, muscle cross-sectional area, fiber size, fiber type distribution, capillarity, and mitochondrial volume were estimated before and after 6 weeks of heavy-resistance exercise. Isokinetic torque production of the knee extensor muscles increased by a total of 17.6%, mainly during the first half of the training period. The cross-sectional area of the vastus lateralis muscle increased by 8.4%, mainly during the second half of the training period. Morphometrically determined fiber size, fiber type distribution, and capillarity from biopsies of vastus lateralis did not change significantly with training. Likewise, the surface densities of inner and outer mitochondrial membranes as well as the volume density of myofibrils remained unchanged. In contrast, the volume density of mitochondria decreased by 9.6%. However, due to the increase in total muscle volume, the calculated absolute volume of mitochondria remained constant, whereas the absolute volume of myofibrils increased by 10%.

It is concluded that strength training of short duration in previously untrained young male subjects does not change the ultrastructural composition of mitochondria and that the apparent dilution of mitochondria can quantitatively be accounted for by the increase in myofibrillar volume.

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