PRINCIPLES OF MYOPATHOLOGY AS ILLUSTRATED IN THE NUTRITIONAL MYOPATHY OF THE ROTTNEST QUOKKA (SETONIX BRACHYURUS)

The complex histomorphology of primary muscle diseases is the result of several distinct pathogenetic mechanisms of which the predominant elements are atrophy, hypertrophy, necrobiosis and degeneration, myophagia, cellular infiltration, heteromorphic and isomorphic regeneration, together with changes in the supporting tissues. Less common in human disease are disfigurative lesions' of the muscle fibers per se. The final result is qualified by the intensity and duration of each factor, and their temporal aspects become ever more important, the more chronic the disease. The tocopherol2 responsive myopathy of the Rottnest quokka (Setonix brachyurus) has proven a very suitable model for the analysis of the factors outlined, especially when modified by environmental and dietary manipulations providing artefact is e x c l ~ d e d . ~ The relationship between the lesions found in this experimental myopathy and the morphological disturbances that comprise certain human diseases of voluntary muscle is the basis for the present report. METHODS AND MATERlALS