Figure 2.

Retention of myonuclei during both atrophy and death of the intersegmental muscles (ISMs) from the moth Manduca sexta. (A) ISMs from three stages of development: homeostatic (days 15 of pupal-adult development; left); atrophic (day 18; middle); and dying (18 h post-eclosion; right). Scale bar equals ~1 mm (adapted from Schwartz et al., 2016). (B) ISMs from these same developmental stages were cleared and stained with the nuclear dye DAPI and visualized via confocal microscopy (adapted from Schwartz et al., 2016). (C) ISM fiber sections (10 μm) were stained with the nuclear dye DAPI. Note the dramatic loss of muscle protein (light gray area) during atrophy and death, but the retention of nuclei at all stages (adapted from Schwartz et al., 2016). (D) Quantification of ISM fiber volume (left), nuclear number (middle), and myonuclear domain size (right) during homeostasis, atrophy, and death. (Mean ± standard error.) (Adapted from Schwartz et al., 2016).