Critical care medicine
-
Critical care medicine · Feb 1999
Fiber atrophy, but not changes in acetylcholine receptor expression, contributes to the muscle dysfunction after immobilization.
Muscle weakness associated with critical illness can be due to the illness itself, immobilization associated with it, and/or to concomitant use of drugs that affect neuromuscular transmission. This study investigated the contribution of immobilization per se to the muscle dysfunction, as well as the associated morphologic and biochemical changes. ⋯ To the extent that the immobilization model simulates the disuse-induced muscle dysfunction of critical illness, the results suggest that disuse per se may contribute to the muscle weakness, and that the muscle weakness is explained, almost exclusively, by the fiber atrophy and not by the qualitative or quantitative changes in AChR expression.
-
Critical care medicine · Feb 1999
Comment Letter Comparative StudyIntensive care unit support formulations.