Muscle cell membranes from early degeneration muscle cell fibers in Solenopsis are leaky to lanthanum: electron microscopy and X-ray analysis.

Lanthanum infusion techniques, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray microanalysis were utilized to compare the permeability of muscle cell membranes from normal and degenerating muscle fibers of Solenopsis spp. In normal fibers, the electron-dense tracer was limited to components of the sarcotubular system. However, the insemination-induced degeneration of muscle fibers was characterized by the presence of an electron-dense precipitate within the myofibrils and mitochondria as well as in the extramyofibrillar spaces. The electron-dense material was subsequently identified by elemental analysis to be lanthanum. Such data indicate that one of the earliest stages of muscle degeneration involves an alteration in cell membrane permeability.