Micro-biopsies: a less invasive technique for investigating human muscle fiber mechanics

Authors

Paige E. Rice, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Sophia Nimphius, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Chris Abbiss, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Kevin A. Zwetsloot
Kiisa Nishikawa

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

The Journal of experimental biology

Volume

225

Issue

6

PubMed ID

35224639

Publisher

The Company of Biologists

School

School of Medical and Health Sciences

RAS ID

47162

Funders

United States National Strength and Conditioning Association (G1003733)

Comments

Rice, P. E., Nimphius, S., Abbiss, C., Zwetsloot, K. A., & Nishikawa, K. (2022). Micro-biopsies: a less invasive technique for investigating human muscle fiber mechanics. Journal of Experimental Biology, 225(6), jeb243643. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243643

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to demonstrate that muscle fiber mechanics can be assessed on micro-biopsies obtained from human medial gastrocnemii. Three micro-biopsy samples were collected from female dancers (n = 15). Single fibers and fiber bundles were isolated and passively stretched from 2.4 to 3.0 µm at 0.015 and 0.04 µm s - 1 (n = 50 fibers total) and in five increments at 0.12 µm s - 1 (n = 42 fibers total). Muscle fibers were then activated isometrically at 2.4 µm (n = 4 fibers total) and 3.0 µm (n = 3 fibers total). Peak stress and steady-state stress were significantly greater (P < 0.0001) after stretching at 0.04 µm s - 1 than at 0.015 µm s - 1. Furthermore, peak stresses and steady-state stresses increased non-linearly with fiber length (P < 0.0001). We conclude that active and passive muscle fiber mechanics can be investigated using tissue from micro-biopsies.

DOI

10.1242/jeb.243643

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