On characterizing skeletal muscle contraction properties. Experimental and simulation methodology

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to characterize the fatigue contractile properties of three
different rat muscles (Tibialis Anterior, Extensor Digitorium Longus and Soleus) in order to
obtain experimental parameters for numerical simulations.
Experiments were conducted “in vivo" on three groups (n = 6) of male Wistar rats (210 +/- 11g)
using a protocol developed by authors in previous works. Muscles were subjected to an
electrical stimulus to achieve tetanic contraction during ten seconds. Digital Image Correlation
was used during tests for 3D strain and displacements measurement that allow the correlation
with the finite element simulations.
By means of Computed Tomography, a precise reconstruction of both bone and muscle of the
rat hindlimb geometry was obtained. The methodology proposed allows to obtain and validate
computational simulations of skeletal muscle fatigue under different characteristics related to
fiber types.
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