Morphometry of Macaca mulatta forelimb. II. Fiber‐type composition in shoulder and elbow muscles

The present study examined the fiber‐type proportions of 22 muscles spanning the shoulder and/or elbow joints of three Macaca mulatta. Fibers were classified as one of three types: fast‐glycolytic (FG), fast‐oxidative‐glycolytic (FOG), or slow‐oxidative (SO). In most muscles, the FG fibers predominated, but proportions ranged from 25–67% in different muscles. SO fibers were less abundant except in a few deep, small muscles where they comprised as much as 56% of the fibers. Cross‐sectional area (CSA) of the three fiber types was measured in six different muscles. FG fibers tended to be the largest, whereas SO fibers were the smallest. While fiber‐type size was not always consistent between muscles, the relative size of FG fibers was generally larger than FOG and SO fibers within the same muscle. When fiber CSA was taken into consideration, FG fibers were found to comprise over 50% of the muscle's CSA in almost all muscles. J. Morphol. 251:323–332, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.