Biomaterial Database

[Ultrastructural changes in skeletal muscle in polymyalgia rheumatica]. 1986

R Fassbender, and M Annefeld

Skeletal muscle from 21 patients with clinical confirmed polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) were examined electronmicroscopically. The changes were classified according to 15 ultrastructure criteria. The focal changes have a regressive character and, while they are nonspecific, the systematic assessment of all criteria produced a characteristic pattern in which the ultrastructural picture of skeletal muscles provided a certain profile in cases of PMR. The functionally most important ultrastructural change concerns the mitochondria. Deposition and deformation of crystals result in mitochondrial changes which are structurally definable and are harmful to cell respiration. They are compensated by new formation and accumulation of mitochondria. Comparative analysis of regressive skeletal changes and of processes in the region of the media of the muscular arteries demonstrates analogous morphological changes which point to a common harmful and overlying systemic process in PMR and giant cell arteritis. Changes in the ultrastructure of the kind and degree described cannot be explained by inflammatory or noninflammatory arterial occlusions.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008854	Microscopy, Electron	Microscopy using an electron beam, instead of light, to visualize the sample, thereby allowing much greater magnification. The interactions of ELECTRONS with specimens are used to provide information about the fine structure of that specimen. In TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY the reactions of the electrons that are transmitted through the specimen are imaged. In SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY an electron beam falls at a non-normal angle on the specimen and the image is derived from the reactions occurring above the plane of the specimen.	Electron Microscopy
D009132	Muscles	Contractile tissue that produces movement in animals.	Muscle Tissue,Muscle,Muscle Tissues,Tissue, Muscle,Tissues, Muscle
D011111	Polymyalgia Rheumatica	A syndrome in the elderly characterized by proximal joint and muscle pain, high erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and a self-limiting course. Pain is usually accompanied by evidence of an inflammatory reaction. Women are affected twice as commonly as men and Caucasians more frequently than other groups. The condition is frequently associated with GIANT CELL ARTERITIS and some theories pose the possibility that the two diseases arise from a single etiology or even that they are the same entity.	Forestier-Certonciny Syndrome,Pseudopolyarthritis, Rhizomelic,Rheumatism, Peri-Extra-Articular,Forestier Certonciny Syndrome,Peri-Extra-Articular Rheumatism,Pseudopolyarthritides, Rhizomelic,Rheumatism, Peri Extra Articular,Rhizomelic Pseudopolyarthritides,Rhizomelic Pseudopolyarthritis,Syndrome, Forestier-Certonciny
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man