Comparative Animal Morphophysiology Laboratory (Physiology)

During its contractile activity, skeletal muscle shortens (allowing the organism to flex its joints and move from one place to another) and also generates force (enabling the organism to maintain an upright position and support loads, including its own weight). During the locomotion of terrestrial animals, various groups of flexor and extensor muscles participate, contracting rhythmically and alternately. These muscle groups possess morphological characteristics and contractile properties that can be modified in response to environmental changes, allowing the organism to adapt to the living conditions imposed by its surroundings. Nutrition (deficient or excessive), inactivity (due to illness or accidents), and exercise are some of the external stimuli that can alter the morphology and function of skeletal muscle.

Pereyra-Venegas J, Segura-Alegría B, Guadarrama-Olmos JC, Mariscal-Tovar S, Quiróz-González S, Jiménez-Estrada I. (2015) Effects provoked by chronic undernourishment on the fibre type composition and contractility of fast muscles in male and female developing rats. J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr (Berl). 99(5):974-86. doi: 10.1111/jpn.12274. PMID: 25495590

Ruiz-Rosado A, Cabrera-Fuentes HA, González-Calixto C, González-López L, Cázares-Raga FE, Segura-Alegría B, Lochnit G, de la Cruz Hernández-Hernández F, Preissner KT, Jiménez-Estrada I. (2013) Influence of chronic food deprivation on structure-function relationship of juvenile rat fast muscles. .J Muscle Res Cell Motil. 34(5-6):357-68. doi: 10.1007/s10974-013-9357-6. PMID: 24037259

Ruiz-Rosado A, Fernández-Valverde F, Mariscal-Tovar S, Hinojosa-Rodriguez CX, Hernández-Valencia JA, Anzueto-Rios Á, Guadarrama-Olmos JC, Segura-Alegría B, Jiménez-Estrada I. (2013). Histoenzymatic and morphometric analysis of muscle fiber type transformation during the postnatal development of the chronically food-deprived rat. J Histochem Cytochem. 61(5):372-81. doi: 10.1369/0022155413480149. PMID: 23392735