Incidence of centrally positioned nuclei in mouse masticatory muscle fibers

Cross-sections of normal digastric, temporalis and masseter muscles from 7- and 30-week-old mice were studied for centrally positioned nuclei. Such nuclei were inhomogeneously distributed throughout each muscle and varied markedly between specimens. The incidence of centrally positioned nuclei in the digastric muscle (mean +/- SD: 0.029 +/- 0.015, n = 25) was significantly higher (p less than 0.001) than that in the temporalis (mean +/- SD: 0.011 +/- 0.010, n = 25) and masseter muscles (mean +/- SD: 0.005 +/- 0.007, n = 9), but did not differ between the two latter muscles (p = 0.41). Furthermore, the frequency in a given muscle was apparently age-independent. A connection between fiber type and centrally positioned nuclei is suggested.