Muscles were removed according to the scheme outlined by Armstrong and Phelps [11] (link). Muscles were chosen because of their common use in muscle biology and exercise physiology research. Whole soleus (Sol), plantaris (Pla), and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) were removed and a portion of the entire circumference around the mid-belly was used. The tibialis anterior was separated into red (RTA) and white (WTA) portions, the gastrocnemius was separated into red (RG), white (WG), and mixed (MG) portions, whereas the vastus intermedius (VI) and the white vastus lateralis (WVL) were isolated from the quadriceps. This resulted in a total of ten rat and mouse muscles/muscle portions. Muscles were embedded in O.C.T. compound (Tissue-Tek), frozen in liquid nitrogen-cooled isopentane, stored at −80°C, and cut into 10 µm thick cryosections with a cryostat (Thermo Electronic) maintained at −20°C. Human vastus lateralis (VL) muscle samples from recreationally active males (n = 7; age: 20.6±0.6 years; height: 183.4±0.6 cm; weight: 72.6±3.3 kg) from a recent report [17] (link) were also utilized. Human procedures were approved by the University of Guelph Research Ethics Board (REB# 06MR027).
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