Morphology changes in rat skeletal muscles after 19 day exposure to +2 G.

Effects of long duration hypergravity on m. soleus morphology characteristics are still unknown. Particularly, only one paper describes the size and myosin heavy chain profiles of rat hindlimb extensor muscle fibers after 2 weeks of +2 G exposure. Earlier it was shown that long term overloading induced changes in skeletal muscle fiber cross-sectional area (CSA), fiber composition, and imitochondrial content. The aim of our study was to evaluate quantitatively structural parameters of m. soleus contractile apparatus after 19 day exposure to +2 G overloading.