Abstract:
Membranes are dynamic structures that affect cell structure and function.
Compositional changes ofmembranes have been shown with the application of a
perturbation; however these are limited to whole tissue analysis. The purpose of this
thesis was to compare the phospholipid (PL) fatty acid (FA) composition of rat whole
muscle (Wm) to 1) purified and non-purified subsarcolemmal (SS) mitochondria in
soleus, plantaris, and red gastrocnemius, and 2) sarcolemma, transverse-tubules, SS and
intermyofibrillar (IMF) mitochondria fix)m whole hindlimb. The major findings were that
1) contamination significantly altered the PL FA composition of the SS mitochondrial
membrane fraction, 2) Wm and SS mitochondria compositions differed between muscle
types, and 3) Wm did not accurately reflect the PL FA composition of any isolated
subcellular membranes, with each being unique from each other. As such, the relevancy
of the trends reported in the literature of the effects of perturbations on Wm may be
limited.
