How to estimate the sarcomere size based on oblique sections of skeletal muscle

Ultrastructural analysis of muscular biopsy is based on images of longitudinal sections of the fibers. Sometimes, due to experimental limitations, the resulting sections are instead oblique, and no accurate morphological information can be extracted with standard analysis methods. Thus, the biopsy is performed again, but this is too invasive and time-consuming. In this study, we focused our attention on the sarcomere's shape and we investigated which is the structural information that can be obtained from oblique sections. A routine was written in MATLAB to allow the visualization of how a sarcomere's section appears in ultrastructural images obtained by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) at different secant angles. The routine was used also to analyze the intersection between a cylinder and a plane to show how the Z-bands and M-line lengths vary at different secant angles. Moreover, we explored how to calculate sarcomere's radius and length as well as the secant angle from ultrastructural images, based only on geometrical considerations (Pythagorean theorem and trigonometric functions). The equations to calculate these parameters starting from ultrastructural image measurements were found. Noteworthy, to obtain the real sarcomere length in quasi-longitudinal sections, a small correction in the standard procedure is needed and highlighted in the text. In conclusion, even non-longitudinal sections of skeletal muscles can be used to extrapolate morphological information of sarcomeres, which are important parameters for diagnostic purposes.

Automated summary

Ultrastructural analysis of muscular biopsy is usually performed on longitudinal sections of the fibers, but due to experimental limitations, oblique sections are sometimes obtained, which hinders accurate morphological information extraction. In this study, the researchers investigated the structural information that can be derived from oblique sections, and developed a MATLAB routine to visualize and analyze sarcomere sections in ultrastructural images. The study also proposed equations to calculate sarcomere parameters and highlighted the need for a small correction in the standard procedure to obtain the real sarcomere length in quasi-longitudinal sections. Overall, this research demonstrates the potential to extrapolate morphological information of sarcomeres from non-longitudinal sections, which has important diagnostic implications.