THE USE OF CRYO-METHODS IN STUDYING THE ULTRASTRUCTURE OF RABBIT SKELETAL-MUSCLE SARCOMERES

The ultrastructure of sarcomeres of glycerinated rabbit psoas muscle was studied using freeze-fracture-etching, freeze-drying and optical diffraction techniques in comparison with the investigation of this muscle by plastic sections and negative staining methods. In frozen and dried myofibrils isolated from the above muscle the stripes of minor proteins location in A- and I-disks were clearly seen. The pivot structure in thick filaments was revealed in longitudinal fractures of the muscle. The ordered arrangement of myosin heads (crossbridges) associated with actin filaments was preserved in frozen longitudinal fractures as evidenced by optical diffraction. Ereeze etching technique allowed to revealed some details of Z-line structure: alpha-actinin bridges connecting the ends of actin filaments of neighbouring sarcomeres and to preserve the lateral struts between actin filaments in I-disks.