An improved procedure for identifying fiber types in ovine muscles

An improved histochemical procedure has been developed for the identification of three muscle fiber types (βR, αR, αW) in two ovine muscles. This procedure can be used in lieu of the traditional reciprocal procedures of using an oxidative enzyme and ATPase to identify fiber types. The advantage of this simultaneous staining procedure is that it eliminates duplication of effort and time plus it distinguishes the αR (intermediate) fibers more clearly than the traditional methods. For best results, muscle samples must be evaluated within 2h of slaughtering the animal and care must be taken to monitor the pH at regular intervals. More research is needed to determine specific conditions, i.e. sample time, pH, enzyme activity, etc., before this method can be recommended as the most appropriate procedure for determining fiber type in muscles of other species.