Table 3.

Volumes of muscle components and concentration conversion factors for human muscle

ComponentRelative volume (% fiber volume)Comments
SR 3.8 Eisenberg (1983)  
Mitochondria Eisenberg (1983)  
t-system 0.28 Eisenberg (1983)  
JS 0.014 Estimated to be 5% of t-system volume (see text) 
Myoplasmic water 69 Fraction of water in whole tissue that is inside fibers, excluding volumes occupied by SR, t-system, and JS 
Concentration conversion factors 
Whole muscle (kg−1) → fiber (liter−11.18  
Whole muscle (kg−1) → myoplasmic water (liter−11.45  
Fiber (liter−1) → myoplasmic water (liter−11.23  
ComponentRelative volume (% fiber volume)Comments
SR 3.8 Eisenberg (1983)  
Mitochondria Eisenberg (1983)  
t-system 0.28 Eisenberg (1983)  
JS 0.014 Estimated to be 5% of t-system volume (see text) 
Myoplasmic water 69 Fraction of water in whole tissue that is inside fibers, excluding volumes occupied by SR, t-system, and JS 
Concentration conversion factors 
Whole muscle (kg−1) → fiber (liter−11.18  
Whole muscle (kg−1) → myoplasmic water (liter−11.45  
Fiber (liter−1) → myoplasmic water (liter−11.23  

Other values required for calculations: whole muscle density, 1.05 kg liter−1 (Segal et al., 1986) and protein density, 1.37 kg liter−1 (Fischer et al., 2004; these values give ratio of wet mass/dry mass of whole muscle = 5); extracellular water, 12.5% of total muscle water (Sjogaard et al., 1985).

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