Distribution of different fibre types in human skeletal muscles. A statistical and computational model for the study of fibre type grouping and early diagnosis of skeletal muscle fibre denervation and reinnervation

To define fibre type grouping in terms of random and non-random arrangements of the two fibre types, type 1 (ST) and type 2 (FT), we adopted the measure of counting the number of "enclosed fibres". The statistical properties of the number of enclosed fibres, and the number and size of groups of enclosed fibres were studied in computer-simulated muscle cross-sections, using a model based upon hexagonal-shaped fibres. The effects on the results of differences in the sizes of the muscle fibres were considered. The applicability of the model, and the derived results and methods of analysis were tested on 10 samples from a cross-section of a whole human muscle. The results show that the model can be applied to various shapes and sizes of muscle samples and various sizes of muscle fibres. The number of enclosed fibres within a muscle sample is the best of the three measures of non-randomness considered. A test is also described for assessing whether or not the observed number of enclosed fibres is random at a given significance level.