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The reliability of muscle biopsies taken from vastus lateralis

journal contribution
posted on 1999-12-01, 00:00 authored by Dan DwyerDan Dwyer, J Browning, S Weinstein
The purpose of this study was to examine whether a single biopsy sample of vastus lateralis could provide an accurate estimate of capillary density (CD) which is indicative of the entire muscle, or whether capillary density is distributed unevenly and varies with muscle depth. Whole muscle cross sections of vastus lateralis were excised post mortem (n=11) for analysis of capillary density at three muscle depths, (superficial, mid and deep regions). Muscle thickness varied widely (17–79mm) across subjects. The distribution of CD throughout the depth of the muscle was homogeneous in 8 subjects, but in 3 subjects it was heterogeneous (p<0.05). In 3 of these subjects there was a significant (p<0.05) effect of sample depth on CD. These data indicate that tissue from a single biopsy will not adequately represent the CD of the entire vastus lateralis in some individuals. Single biopsies from unspecified muscle depth, have routinely been used to estimate CD and fibre type in vastus lateralis. The present study indicates that a more reliable method of analysis would be to use the tissue from two needle biopsies taken at the superficial and deep portions of the muscle from a group of at least 10 subjects. Sampling theory analysis supported this conclusion.

History

Journal

Journal of science and medicine in sport

Volume

2

Issue

4

Pagination

333 - 340

Publisher

Churchill Livingston Elsevier

Location

Chatswood, N.S.W.

ISSN

1440-2440

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

1999, Elsevier

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