Susceptibility of mouse skeletal muscles to exercise injuries.

The susceptibility to exercise-induced myopathy was studied by histological and biochemical methods in various skeletal muscles of mice 3-4 days after a single bout of prolonged running. The degree of exercise injuries varied greatly in different muscles. Soleus and the red deep parts of quadriceps femoris were the most severely affected muscles. Extensive or scattered necrosis of muscle fibers was associated with focal inflammation and a five- to nine-fold increase in the activity of beta-glucuronidase in these muscles. Slight necrotic changes and a two- to three-fold increase in the activity of beta-glucuronidase were observed in tibialis anterior, plantaris, and the red deep parts of gastrocnemius. A statistically significant increase in beta-glucuronidase activity was also observed in the white distal part of quadriceps femoris, biceps femoris, gracilis, extensor digitorum longus, and peroneal muscles but necrotic lesions were infrequent in these muscles. The degree of exercise injuries is probably affected by the different recruitment of muscles during running and by the anatomical location of muscles in separate compartments, which could expose them to different levels of ischemic compression by postexercise edema.