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Myo-mechanical Analysis of Isolated Skeletal Muscle
Published on: February 22, 2011
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Functionality of Disorder in Muscle Mechanics
Hudson Borja da Rocha1,2, Lev Truskinovsky2
1LMS, CNRS-UMR 7649, Ecole Polytechnique, Université Paris-Saclay, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
Physical Review Letters
|April 2, 2019
Summary
Skeletal muscles rapidly adapt to slack thanks to elastically interacting elements. This "double criticality," driven by filament misalignment, ensures robust muscle function.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Skeletal Muscle Physiology
- Materials Science
Background:
- Skeletal muscles exhibit rapid adaptation to applied slack.
- This adaptation involves collective folding of elastically interacting bistable elements.
- Long-range interactions in these elements lead to distinct system behaviors under different controls.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the mechanism behind skeletal muscle's rapid adaptation to slack.
- To explore the role of myosin-actin filament disregistry in muscle dynamics.
- To understand the concept of
- double criticality
- in skeletal muscle function.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical modeling of elastically interacting bistable elements.
- Analysis of force and length controlled ensembles.
- Investigating the impact of filament disregistry on elementary force-producing units.
Main Results:
- Skeletal muscle elements exhibit collective folding for rapid slack adaptation.
- The system displays two distinct order-disorder-type critical points due to long-range interactions.
- Accounting for myosin-actin filament disregistry positions muscle units near critical points, inducing "double criticality".
Conclusions:
- The observed "double criticality" in skeletal muscles is a key factor in their robust performance.
- Filament disregistry is suggested to be a functional element contributing to muscle adaptation and function.
- This finding provides insights into the biomechanics and efficiency of skeletal muscle contraction.
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