Myopathy associated with linear scleroderma. A histochemical and electron microscopic study.

Pathologic findings in biopsied rectus femoris muscle underlying an area of linear scleroderma are described. The affected muscle was weak and atrophic. On electromyography it showed motor unit potentials of decreased amplitude and duration. Light microscopic changes were minimal. There was atrophy of some histochemical type I fibers. More prominent changes were found at the ultrastructural level, where many of the capillary basal laminae were thickened and reduplicated. Most striking was the presence of two types of electron-dense, rounded inclusions within the mitochondria, one ranging from 29 to 47nm in diameter and the other from 54 to 131 nm in diameter.