Figure 2.

Capillaries and muscle fibers in the rat extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle underwent denervation and early reinnervation. Left column: Immunofluorescent demonstration of capillaries and muscle fibers in a single image captured by a confocal microscope. Middle column: A combination of an immunofluorescent detection of capillaries with the histochemical reaction for NADH-tetrazolium (TR) reductase. Very dark fibers are highly oxidative, and the pale fibers are non-oxidative. Right column: 3D rendering of capillaries and muscle fiber types: highly oxidative fibers (dark blue), fibers with an intermediate activity (light blue), and fibers with very low NADH activity (white). Top row: control EDL muscle. Middle row: denervated EDL muscle. Bottom row: reinnervated EDL muscle. Bar = 50 μm.