The effects of pre- and perinatal undernutrition on the succinic dehydrogenase content of muscle fibres from fast and slow rat muscles.

Male rats were subjected to early undernutrition by limiting the mothers' food supply by 50% during pregnancy and lactation. At age 36 weeks, quantitative cytochemical determinations of succinic dehydrogenase activity were made in muscle fibres from the anterior tibialis and soleus muscles. Marked decreases were found in the former muscle but relatively little decrease was seen in the latter. This response of the muscles to early undernutrition was discussed with reference to other studies on pre and post-natal starvation.