摘要Objective To study the possible mechanism and prevention of disused muscle atrophy. Methods The shortened immobilization (plaster fixation) of rat's soleus muscle(SOL) was used as the model of muscle "disuse" and the lengthened immobilization of rat's SOL muscle as "passive stretch" method. Types of skeletal muscle fibers were differentiated with m-ATPase staining technique. The changes of rat's SOL weight (wet weight) as well as the types and the mean cross sectional area (CSA) of muscle fibers were examined respectively on days 2,4,7,14 and 21 under both shortened and lengthened immobilization, and then the effect of passive stretch on soleus muscle atrophy in immobilized rats was observed. Results When shortened immobilization was applied for 4 days, SOL weight (wet weight ) became lighter, the fiber cross-sectional area (CSA) shrank, and type Ⅰ muscle fibers started to transform into type Ⅱ, which all indicated that immobilized muscles began to atrophy, and as immobilization proceeded, muscle atrophy proceeded toward higher level. In contrast to that, when lengthened immobilization was applied, SOL didn't show any signs of atrophy until day 7, the sign reached its highest level on day 14 and maintained that level even though immobilization continued. Conclusion From the results, we conclude that the passive stretch can either relieve or retard the disused muscle atrophy.