Nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio in ageing skeletal muscle

In order to investigate possible changes in the nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio of the muscle fibres during ageing, samples of quadriceps femoris from 15 normal individuals whose age ranged from 17 to 82 years were studied (autopsy material). The mean lesser diameter and the number and size of the muscle fibre nuclei were calculated using a planimetric technique. It was found that nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio increased significantly after the age of 60 years. This was due to a decrease in the mean fibre size whilst the number and the size of myonuclei remained unchanged. The resemblance of this finding to denervation atrophy changes is noted.