[Hypertrophy of the transversal tubular system in target fibres. An electron microscopic study (author's transl)]

In a muscle biopsy from a patient suffering about 2 years from an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis groups of atrophic fibres and target fibres were observed. By electron microscopic examination, amongst numerous parallel or spinal cisternae near the plasma membrane, single-membrane bound smooth tubular elements with a constant diameter of 200-300 A occur in the central and intermediary zone of some target fibres. The connexion between these tubules and the terminal cisternae (triads) of the sarcoplasmic reticulum, suggest that this phenomenon seems to be a proliferation of the transversal-tubular system due to the partial denervation. Only a mechanical displacement of the T-tubules as a result of the destruction of the muscle fibres is not plausible, because the T-system volumetrically amounts only 0.3-0.5% of the muscle fibre.