Changes in fiber type composition in growing muscle as a result of dynamic exercise and static overload.

The effects of dynamic exercise (jumping) and static overload (synergist tenotomy) on rat soleus muscle were investigated during a growing phase in juvenile animals. The relative proportions of slow twitch (type 1), fast twitch (type 2a) and intermediate (type 2c) fibers were determined histochemically. The control animals, as part developmental process, lost type 2a fibers apparently by conversion to type 1 fibers via the type 2c form. Synergist tenotomy enhanced the conversion of type 2a fibers to type 2c fibers as these muscles displayed fewer type 2a fibers than control animals at the same age. In contrast, the dynamic exercise delayed the loss of type 2a fibers from the soleus. When the two exercises were combined the effects on fiber type proportions cancelled each other; this group also had a large number of type 2c fibers. This present study indicates that the activity imposed on a muscle influences the maturational development of the constituent fiber types.