[State of the contractile apparatus during the development of a pathological process in the muscles. III. The nature and sequence of the structural changes in the contractile apparatus in Zenker's necrosis].

Using polarized ultraviolet (UV) fluorescence microscopy, it was shown that the local damage of muscle fibres causes in their morphologically unchanged parts the alternation of regions, being in different functional states referred to as "pseudocontraction" and "superrelaxation". The pattern of UV fluorescence anisotropy suggests that conformation of contractile proteins by "pseudocontraction" is similar to that at contraction, though changes in sarcomere length do not occur. The "superrelaxation" is characterized by a desorganization of myofilaments. During the spreading of Zenker's necrosis, the "pseudocontraction" is seen transferred first into "superrelaxation", and then into irreversible contracture and rigor. "The boundary of Zenker's necrosis" overlaps with the boundary of the self-propagating irreversible contracture. There is no proper boundary of Zenker's necrosis, because the destructive changes are observed over all the muscle fibre. Contraction nodules arise in the regions of "superrelaxation" and follow the changes of the contractile system, peculiar of contracture. The study of the influence of medium ionic composition on the development of Zenker's necrosis suggests that the arising and spreading of destruction are inseparably associated with the irreverrsible changes of intracellular membrane structures, and with the possibility of propogation of the damage signal by these structures along muscle fibres.