Distribution of different fibre types in human skeletal muscles. A statistical and computational study of the fibre type arrangement in m. vastus lateralis of young, healthy males.

To test whether the arrangement of fibre types in the human muscle (m. vastus lateralis) from clinically healthy and young males can be regarded as random, fascicles at different parts of the muscle and with different fibre type proportions were studied. The randomness of the arrangement of fibre types was assessed by the number of enclosed fibres in a fascicle and, on the basis of a model, tested by simulating muscle cross-sections using a microcomputer. The fibre type proportion was found to vary within a fascicle, so the original model for the test of randomness was modified to allow for different fibre type proportions on the border of the fascicle and internally. The effect of different sizes of the fibre types was also considered. The various aspects considered had only a marginal effect on the original model. For this muscle (m. vastus lateralis) the arrangement of fibre types was therefore considered random. Thus, a sample from this muscle, taken from individuals of the same sex and age group, can be tested for non-randomness, as an indication of a successive denervation and reinnervation process.