Anna K Redmond, Tilman M Davies, Matthew R Schofield, Philip W Sheard
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: The functional and metabolic properties of skeletal muscles are partly a function of the spatial arrangement of fibers across the muscle belly. Many muscles feature a non-uniform spatial pattern of fiber types, and alterations to the arrangement can reflect age or disease and correlate with changes in muscle mass and strength. Despite the significance of this event, descriptions of spatial fiber-type distributions across a muscle section are mainly provided qualitatively, by eye. Whilst several quantitative methods have been proposed, difficulties in implementation have meant that robust statistical analysis of fiber type distributions has not yielded new insight into the biological processes that drive the age- or disease-related changes in fiber type distributions.
Methods: We review currently available approaches for analysis of data reporting fast/slow fiber type distributions on muscle sections before proposing a new method based on a generalized additive model. We compare current approaches with our new method by analysis of sections of three mouse soleus muscles that exhibit visibly different spatial fiber patterns, and we also apply our model to a dataset representing the fiber type proportions and distributions of the mouse tibialis anterior.
Results: We highlight how current methods can lead to differing interpretations when applied to the same dataset and demonstrate how our new method is the first to permit location-based estimation of fiber-type probabilities, in turn enabling useful graphical representation.
Conclusions: We present an open-access online application that implements current methods as well as our new method and which aids the interpretation of a variety of statistical tools for the spatial analysis of muscle fiber distributions.
期刊介绍:
The only open access journal in its field, Skeletal Muscle publishes novel, cutting-edge research and technological advancements that investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the biology of skeletal muscle. Reflecting the breadth of research in this area, the journal welcomes manuscripts about the development, metabolism, the regulation of mass and function, aging, degeneration, dystrophy and regeneration of skeletal muscle, with an emphasis on understanding adult skeletal muscle, its maintenance, and its interactions with non-muscle cell types and regulatory modulators.
Main areas of interest include:
-differentiation of skeletal muscle-
atrophy and hypertrophy of skeletal muscle-
aging of skeletal muscle-
regeneration and degeneration of skeletal muscle-
biology of satellite and satellite-like cells-
dystrophic degeneration of skeletal muscle-
energy and glucose homeostasis in skeletal muscle-
non-dystrophic genetic diseases of skeletal muscle, such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy and myopathies-
maintenance of neuromuscular junctions-
roles of ryanodine receptors and calcium signaling in skeletal muscle-
roles of nuclear receptors in skeletal muscle-
roles of GPCRs and GPCR signaling in skeletal muscle-
other relevant aspects of skeletal muscle biology.
In addition, articles on translational clinical studies that address molecular and cellular mechanisms of skeletal muscle will be published. Case reports are also encouraged for submission.
Skeletal Muscle reflects the breadth of research on skeletal muscle and bridges gaps between diverse areas of science for example cardiac cell biology and neurobiology, which share common features with respect to cell differentiation, excitatory membranes, cell-cell communication, and maintenance. Suitable articles are model and mechanism-driven, and apply statistical principles where appropriate; purely descriptive studies are of lesser interest.