Fig. 9. Quantification of sarcolemmal focal adhesion kinase (FAK) expression in different fibre types of normal and foreign-reinnervated rat skeletal muscles: Fibres were classified into different types and subdivided on the criteria of FAK immunoreactivity into a sarcolemmal FAK-positive and sarcolemmal FAK-negative fibre population. The percentage of sarcolemmal FAK-positive fibres for each fibre type was then counted as described in Materials and methods. The histograms display the mean + S.E.M. (N=4-6) of the calculated percentage of sarcolemmal FAK-immunoreactive fibres in (A) normal soleus muscle (N-SOL, white columns), cross-reinnervated (X-SOL) soleus muscle (black columns) and transplanted and foreign-reinnervated (T-SOL) soleus muscle (grey columns), and in (B) normal extensor digitorum longus (N-EDL, white columns) and transplanted and reinnervated (T-EDL) extensor digitorum longus muscle (black columns). Individual values were compared using a bilateral ²-test for statistical significance. An asterisk denotes a significant difference (P<0.001) in the percentage of sarcolemmal FAK-immunoreactive fibres in a muscle fibre type between the experimental muscle types marked with a bracket.

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