Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Classification of Skeletal Muscle Fibers01:48

Classification of Skeletal Muscle Fibers

58.3K
Skeletal muscles continuously produce ATP to provide the energy that enables muscle contractions. Skeletal muscle fibers can be categorized into three types based on differences in their contraction speed and how they produce ATP, as well as physical differences related to these factors. Most human muscles contain all three muscle fiber types, albeit in varying proportions.
Slow-Twitch Muscle Fibers
Slow oxidative, muscle fibers appear red due to large numbers of capillaries and high levels of...
58.3K
Types of Skeletal Muscle Fibers01:32

Types of Skeletal Muscle Fibers

3.4K
Skeletal muscles comprise various fibers, each with distinct characteristics and roles in movement and stability. They are mainly categorized into three types — fast-twitch, slow-twitch, and intermediate.
Fast-twitch fibers
Fast-twitch fibers, or Type II fibers, are designed for quick, powerful bursts of speed and strength. They reach peak tension within approximately 0.01 seconds following stimulation. Characterized by a large diameter and densely packed myofibrils, these fibers contain...
3.4K
Fascicle Arrangement in Skeletal Muscles01:25

Fascicle Arrangement in Skeletal Muscles

3.2K
Fascicles are bundles of muscle fibers in a skeletal muscle. Muscle fascicle arrangement is directly associated with the power and range of motion of various muscles. The configuration of these fascicles can vary, leading to different functional outcomes.
The four primary types of muscle based on fascicle arrangement are:
3.2K
Overview of Muscle Tissues01:25

Overview of Muscle Tissues

19.0K
The human body has three types of muscle tissue: skeletal, smooth, and cardiac. Each class has unique properties that enable them to perform specific functions. However, all muscle tissues share certain properties, including elasticity, contractility, and excitability. 
Elasticity
Elasticity is the ability of muscles to stretch and return to their original shape. This property is partly due to elastic fibers — macromolecules that run through the muscles. These fibers are firm and...
19.0K
Overview of Skeletal Muscle01:15

Overview of Skeletal Muscle

13.5K
Skeletal muscles are composed of a bundle of muscle fibers and are attached to bones through tendons. Each skeletal muscle fiber is a single muscle cell. The sarcolemma, the plasma membrane of a skeletal muscle cell, consists of a lipid bilayer and glycocalyx that supports muscle fibers. The sarcolemma extends into the muscle cells to form tubular structures called transverse or T-tubules. Each side of the T-tubules consists of a membrane-bound structure called the sarcoplasmic reticulum,...
13.5K
Gross Anatomy of Skeletal Muscles01:12

Gross Anatomy of Skeletal Muscles

17.0K
The connective tissues play a significant role in arranging the muscle fibers into a hierarchical structure that forms a complete muscle. Consider a muscle like the bicep brachii, commonly called the bicep. This muscle comprises thousands of muscle fibers enclosed by a protective layer of connective tissue called the endomysium. The endomysium is primarily composed of reticular fibers, a type of thin collagen fiber. It allows the exchange of nutrients and waste products at the fiber level,...
17.0K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Attrition and representativeness in development and validation of online symptom checkers-a case study on the <i>Rheumatic</i>? Questionnaire.

Frontiers in artificial intelligence·2026
Same author

Unraveling the spatial landscape of dystrophinopathies: a transcriptomic approach to Becker and Duchenne muscular dystrophies.

The Journal of pathology·2026
Same author

ProtFI, an efficient frailty-trained proteomics-based biomarker of aging, robustly predicts age-related decline.

Cell reports methods·2026
Same author

Myonuclear Domain-Associated and Central Nucleation-Dependent Spatial Restriction of Dystrophin Protein Expression.

Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle·2026
Same author

RNA-associated glycoconjugates highlight potential ambiguities in glycoRNA analysis.

Experimental & molecular medicine·2025
Same author

Antisense-mediated exon skipping therapy improves neuromuscular junction deficits in a Duchenne muscular dystrophy mouse model.

Neuromuscular disorders : NMD·2025

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 3, 2025

Semi-automated Analysis of Mouse Skeletal Muscle Morphology and Fiber-type Composition
08:36

Semi-automated Analysis of Mouse Skeletal Muscle Morphology and Fiber-type Composition

Published on: August 31, 2017

10.8K

Discovering fiber type architecture over the entire muscle using data-driven analysis.

Davide Bindellini1, Lennard M Voortman2, Cyriel S Olie1

  • 1Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Cytometry. Part a : the Journal of the International Society for Analytical Cytology
|June 5, 2021
PubMed
Summary

Investigating the entire skeletal muscle reveals spatial variations in myofiber features, challenging the assumption that a single sample represents the whole muscle. Comprehensive analysis is crucial for understanding muscle function.

Keywords:
data-driven analysismuscle architecturemyofiber typequantitative image analysis

More Related Videos

Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Mysteries of Skeletal Muscle Fiber Types Using the MyDoBID Technique
07:04

Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Mysteries of Skeletal Muscle Fiber Types Using the MyDoBID Technique

Published on: September 22, 2023

3.1K
Author Spotlight: Isolation of Long Muscle Fibers from Mouse Hindlimb Muscles for Studying Excitation-Contraction Coupling Across Fiber Types
08:12

Author Spotlight: Isolation of Long Muscle Fibers from Mouse Hindlimb Muscles for Studying Excitation-Contraction Coupling Across Fiber Types

Published on: December 1, 2023

2.7K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Nov 3, 2025

Semi-automated Analysis of Mouse Skeletal Muscle Morphology and Fiber-type Composition
08:36

Semi-automated Analysis of Mouse Skeletal Muscle Morphology and Fiber-type Composition

Published on: August 31, 2017

10.8K
Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Mysteries of Skeletal Muscle Fiber Types Using the MyDoBID Technique
07:04

Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Mysteries of Skeletal Muscle Fiber Types Using the MyDoBID Technique

Published on: September 22, 2023

3.1K
Author Spotlight: Isolation of Long Muscle Fibers from Mouse Hindlimb Muscles for Studying Excitation-Contraction Coupling Across Fiber Types
08:12

Author Spotlight: Isolation of Long Muscle Fibers from Mouse Hindlimb Muscles for Studying Excitation-Contraction Coupling Across Fiber Types

Published on: December 1, 2023

2.7K

Area of Science:

  • Muscle physiology and histology
  • Skeletal muscle architecture analysis
  • High-throughput imaging techniques

Background:

  • Skeletal muscle function is linked to myofiber architecture, molecular, and metabolic features.
  • Current methods often rely on local sampling, assuming representativeness of the entire muscle.
  • The extent to which local sampling reflects whole-muscle characteristics is largely unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and validate a pipeline for analyzing muscle fiber architecture across the entire muscle.
  • To investigate the spatial distribution of myofiber features and neuromuscular junctions throughout the whole muscle.
  • To assess the validity of using a single, median muscle region for representative analysis.

Main Methods:

  • A comprehensive pipeline involving sectioning, staining, high-throughput imaging, and image quantification was developed.
  • Consecutive cross-sections stained for laminin and myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoforms were used to reconstruct muscle architecture.
  • Data-driven analysis of over 150,000 myofibers was performed, with considerations for dataset reduction without spatial information loss.

Main Results:

  • Significant spatial variations were observed in myofiber geometric features, myofiber type distribution (based on MyHC isoforms), and neuromuscular junction distribution across the entire muscle.
  • The study demonstrated heterogeneity in muscle characteristics when examined comprehensively.
  • Asymmetric spatial distributions of these features were identified, suggesting potential impacts on overall muscle function.

Conclusions:

  • A single, median muscle sample may not be representative of the entire muscle's histological features.
  • Comprehensive, whole-muscle analysis is essential for accurately understanding skeletal muscle structure-function relationships.
  • Future studies should adopt methods that investigate representative regions across the entire muscle to capture true heterogeneity.