Characterization of the passive mechanical properties of spine muscles across species

Passive mechanical properties differ between muscle groups within a species. Altered functional demands can also shift the passive force-length relationship. The extent that passive mechanical properties differ within a muscle group (e.g. spine extensors) or between homologous muscles of different species is unknown. It was hypothesized that multifidus, believed to specialize in spine stabilization, would generate greater passive tensile stresses under isometric conditions than erector spinae, which have more generalized functions of moving and stabilizing the spine; observing greater multifidus moduli in different species would strengthen this hypothesis. Permeabilized fibre bundles (n = 337) from the multifidus and erector spinae of mice, rats, and rabbits were mechanically tested. A novel logistic function was fit to the experimental data to fully characterize passive stress and modulus. Species had the greatest effect on passive muscle parameters with mice having the largest moduli at all lengths. Rats generated less passive stress than rabbits due to a shift of the passive force-length relationship towards longer muscle lengths. Rat multifidus generated slightly greater stresses than erector spinae, but no differences were observed between mouse muscles. The secondary objective was to determine the parameters required to simulate the passive force-length relationship. Experimental data were compared to the passive muscle model in OpenSim. The default OpenSim model, optimized for hindlimb muscles, did not fit any of the spine muscles tested; however, the model could accurately simulate experimental data after adjusting the input parameters. The optimal parameters for modelling the passive force-length relationships of spine muscles in OpenSim are presented.