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Updated: Jun 30, 2025
Evaluation of Muscle Function of the Extensor Digitorum Longus Muscle Ex vivo and Tibialis Anterior Muscle In situ in Mice
Published on: February 9, 2013
Quantitative anatomy of the extensor digiti minimi muscle in the growing human fetus
Mateusz Badura1, Anna Badura2, Magdalena Grzonkowska3
1Department of Normal Anatomy, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Poland. m.badura@cm.umk.pl.
Introduction:
Age-specific reference intervals for the extensor digiti minimi muscle (EDMM) in the human fetus may be relevant in the detailed evaluation of the musculoskeletal systems, with potentially relevant implications for surgical treatment. The aim of the study was to examine the age-specific reference intervals and growth dynamics of the EDMM in relation to its length, width, projection surface area, and volume.
Materials And Methods:
The examined material included 70 human formalin-fixed fetuses of both sexes (37♀, 33♂) aged from 17 to 29 weeks. Using anatomical dissection, each EDMM was visualized, recorded in JPG formats, and analysed by the digital image analysis system and statistical methods.
Results:
No variability of the EDMM was found. All the morphometric parameters of the EDMM revealed neither sex nor laterality differences. With fetal age most linear parameters of the EDMM concerning its examined lengths and widths increased in accordance with natural logarithmic functions. The only two exceptions to this referred to the belly width of the EDMM measured at its mid-length and the tendon width of the EDMM measured proximal to the extensor retinaculum of the wrist, which both followed square root functions. The projection surface areas of the EDMM followed natural logarithmic functions, while the volumetric growth of the EDMM was proportionate to fetal age.
Conclusions:
The variability of the EDMM in the human fetus is minimal. The morphometric data of the EDMM represents age-specific reference intervals of clinical significance. Morphometric parameters of the EDMM reveal neither sex nor laterality differences. The EDMM displays three different growth dynamics: gradual growth deceleration according to both natural logarithmic functions (total length of the muscle and its tendons, belly length, tendon lengths, belly width at its origin, tendon width at its insertion, and projection surface areas) and square root functions (belly width at its mid-length and tendon width in the pre-retinacular segment), and proportionate growth (total volume).
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