The material properties of passive skeletal muscle are critical to proper function and are frequently a target for therapeutic and interventional strategies. Investigations into the passive viscoelasticity of muscle have primarily focused on characterizing the elastic behavior, largely neglecting the viscous component. However, viscosity is a sizeable contributor to muscle stress and extensibility during passive stretch and thus there is a need for characterization of the viscous as well as the elastic components of muscle viscoelasticity. Single mouse muscle fibers were subjected to incremental stress relaxation tests to characterize the dependence of passive muscle stress on time, strain and strain rate. A model was then developed to describe fiber viscoelasticity incorporating the observed nonlinearities. The results of this model were compared with two commonly used linear viscoelastic models in their ability to represent fiber stress relaxation and strain rate sensitivity. The viscous component of mouse muscle fiber stress was not linear as is typically assumed, but rather a more complex function of time, strain and strain rate. The model developed here, which incorporates these nonlinearities, was better able to represent the stress relaxation behavior of fibers under the conditions tested than commonly used models with linear viscosity. It presents a new tool to investigate the changes in muscle viscous stresses with age, injury and disuse.
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September 2011
Research Papers
A Nonlinear Model of Passive Muscle Viscosity
G. A. Meyer,
G. A. Meyer
Department of Bioengineering,
University of California
, San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093
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A. D. McCulloch,
A. D. McCulloch
Department of Bioengineering,
University of California
, San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093
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R. L. Lieber
R. L. Lieber
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery,
University of California
, San Diego and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, La Jolla, Ca 92093 e-mail:
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G. A. Meyer
Department of Bioengineering,
University of California
, San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093
A. D. McCulloch
Department of Bioengineering,
University of California
, San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093
R. L. Lieber
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery,
University of California
, San Diego and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, La Jolla, Ca 92093 e-mail: J Biomech Eng. Sep 2011, 133(9): 091007 (9 pages)
Published Online: October 11, 2011
Article history
Received:
March 1, 2011
Accepted:
August 17, 2011
Online:
October 11, 2011
Published:
October 11, 2011
Citation
Meyer, G. A., McCulloch, A. D., and Lieber, R. L. (October 11, 2011). "A Nonlinear Model of Passive Muscle Viscosity." ASME. J Biomech Eng. September 2011; 133(9): 091007. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4004993
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