The effect of aerobic exercise training on the distribution of succinate dehydrogenase activity throughout muscle fibres.

We evaluated the effect of endurance training (cycling 3 times per week for 12 weeks) on succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity in the subsarcolemmal (SS) and intermyofibrillar (IMF) regions of vastus lateralis muscle fibres in 7 individuals (4 females and 3 males). SDH activity of the SS region increased 9.4% and 12.8% in type I and II fibres, respectively (p < .05). SDH activity of the IMF region increased 4.7% and 6.7% in type I and II fibres, respectively (p < .05). This was less than the increase in the SS region (p < .05). No significant changes were observed in a control group (4 females and 3 males). These data suggest that mitochondria in the SS and IMF regions of human vastus lateralis muscle fibres are sensitive to endurance training. The greater response in the SS region suggests that the metabolic requirements of SS mitochondria were stressed to a greater extent than IMF mitochondria with endurance training.