Manganese, Copper, Zinc, and Iron Concentrations and Subcellular Distribution in Two Types of Skeletal Muscle

To clarify trace element distribution in red and white muscle, and to verify two populations of muscle mitochondria, the iron, zinc, copper, and manganese concentrations of whole muscle and their subcellular fractions were determined. The iron, zinc, copper, and manganese concentrations of red muscle were 1.83, 4.31, 2.05, and 1.67 times higher than those of white muscle, respectively. In skeletal muscle subcellular distribution of iron, zinc, and copper were entirely different and that of manganese was relatively similar as compared with those in liver reported previously. The pattern of mineral distribution in all fractions of red muscle was similar to that of white muscle, but their concentrations in some fractions were different between red and white muscle, e.g., iron, zinc, and manganese in supernatant fraction and copper in nuclear and microsomal fractions. The differences between subsarcolemmal and interfibrillar mitochondria were ascertained by the distribution of trace elements.