Time course of changes in capillarization in hypertrophied rat plantaris muscle

The time course of angiogenesis during hypertrophy of the rat plantaris muscle was studied by using a unilateral, synergistic ablation model. Animals (n = 6/group) were euthanized 2, 5, 7, 15, 21, and 30 days postmyectomy. Sections from both the hypertrophied and contralateral muscles were simultaneously stained for capillaries and muscle fiber type. Mean fiber cross-sectional area (FA) and various indexes of capillarity were determined by using a video analysis system. The capillary supply to individual fibers, assessed as the FA supplied per capillary contact, remained unchanged until day 21 (compared with day 2) and exhibited a significant increase at day 30. Analysis of the time course of capillary development on the basis of the number of capillary contacts per fiber, and of hypertrophy on the basis of FA, yielded half-lives of 10.1 and 11.2 days, respectively. It was concluded that angiogenesis during muscle overload is tightly coupled to the changes in FA, which could suggest that the two processes are initiated and/or driven by some common factor(s).