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J Appl Physiol 90: 1919-1926, 2001;
8750-7587/01 $5.00
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Vol. 90, Issue 5, 1919-1926, May 2001

Muscle capillary supply in harbor seals

Shane B. Kanatous1, Robert Elsner2, and Odile Mathieu-Costello1

1 Department of Medicine 0623A, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093 and 2 Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-7220

The purpose of this study was to examine muscle capillary supply in harbor seals. Locomotory and nonlocomotory muscles of four harbor seals (mass = 17.5-41 kg) were glutaraldehyde-perfusion fixed and samples processed for electron microscopy and analyzed by morphometry. Capillary-to-fiber number and surface ratios were 0.81 ± 0.05 and 0.16 ± 0.01, respectively. Capillary length and surface area per volume of muscle fiber were 1,495 ± 83 mm/mm3 and 22.4 ± 1.6 mm2/mm3, respectively. In the locomotory muscles, we measured capillary length and surface area per volume mitochondria (20.1 ± 1.7 km/ml and 2,531 ± 440 cm2/ml). All these values are 1.5-3 times lower than in muscles with similar or lower volume densities of mitochondria in dogs of comparable size. Compared with terrestrial mammals, the skeletal muscles of harbor seals do not match their increased aerobic enzyme capacities and mitochondrial volume densities with greater muscle capillary supply. They have a smaller capillary-to-fiber interface and capillary supply per fiber mitochondrial volume than terrestrial mammals of comparable size.

mitochondria; capillary supply; muscle


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