Journal Article

Fibre and extracellular matrix contributions to passive forces in human skeletal muscles: An experimental based constitutive law for numerical modelling of the passive element in the classical Hill-type three element model

Bondì, Michela, Randazzo, Giulia, Reggiani, Carlo, Pavan, Piero G., Natali, Arturo N., Marcucci, Lorenzo

2019

Overview

The forces that allow body movement can be divided into active (generated by sarcomeric contractile proteins) and passive (sustained by intra-sarcomeric proteins, fibre cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix (ECM)). These are needed to transmit the active forces to the tendon and the skeleton. However, the relative contribution of the intra- and extra- sarcomeric components in transmitting the passive forces is still under debate. There is limited data in the literature about human muscle and so it is difficult to make predictions using multiscale models, imposing a purely phenomenological description for passive forces. In this paper, we apply a method for the experimental characterization of the passive properties of fibres and ECM to human biopsy and propose their clear separation in a Finite Element Model. Experimental data were collected on human single muscle fibres and bundles, taken from vastus lateralis muscle of elderly subjects. Both were progressively elongated to obtain two stress-strain curves which were fitted to exponential equations. The mechanical properties of the extracellular passive components in a bundle of fibres were deduced by the subtraction of the passive tension observed in single fibres from the passive tension observed in the bundle itself. Our results showed that modulus and tensile load bearing capability of ECM are higher than those of fibres and defined their quantitative characterization that can be used in macroscopic models to study their role in the transmission of forces in physiological and pathophysiological conditions.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Biology and Life Sciences / Biomechanical Phenomena / Biomechanics / Biopsy / Bundling / Cytoskeleton / Efficiency / Elderly / Exponential equations / Extracellular matrix / Extracellular Matrix - physiology / Fibers / Finite element method / Geriatrics / Humans / Industrial engineering / Macroscopic models / Mathematical models / Mechanical properties / Mechanics / Medicine and Health Sciences / Models, Biological / Movement - physiology / Muscle contraction / Muscle Fibers, Skeletal - physiology / Muscles / Musculoskeletal system / Older people / Passive components / Physical Sciences / Proteins / Skeletal muscle / Skeleton / Social Sciences / Strain / Stress-strain curves / Subtraction / Tensile stress / Weight-Bearing - physiology