Contributions of biarticular myogenic components to the limitation of the range of motion after immobilization of rat knee joint

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

Hiroshi Kuroki³  Haruhiko Akiyama¹  Xiangkai Zhang³  Junichi Tajino³  Shoki Yamaguchi³  Hirotaka Iijima³  Akira Ito³  Tomoki Aoyama²  Momoko Nagai³ 

[1] Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu University, Gifu, Japan;Department of Development and Rehabilitation of Motor Function, Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan;Department of Motor Function Analysis, Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 53 Shogoin, Kawahara-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan

关键词: Rats;    Range of motion;    Muscles;    External fixators;    Contracture;   

Others  :  1125483
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2474-15-224

 received in 2013-10-30, accepted in 2014-07-01,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Muscle atrophy caused by immobilization in the shortened position is characterized by a decrease in the size or cross-sectional area (CSA) of myofibers and decreased muscle length. Few studies have addressed the relationship between limitation of the range of motion (ROM) and the changes in CSA specifically in biarticular muscles after atrophy because of immobilization. We aimed to determine the contribution of 2 distinct muscle groups, the biarticular muscles of the post thigh (PT) and those of the post leg (PL), to the limitation of ROM as well as changes in the myofiber CSAs after joint immobilization surgery.

Methods

Male Wistar rats (n = 40) were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. In the experimental group, the left knee was surgically immobilized by external fixation for 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 weeks (n = 5 each) and sham surgery was performed on the right knee. The rats in the control groups (n = 3 per time point) did not undergo surgery. After the indicated immobilization periods, myotomy of the PT or PL biarticular muscles was performed and the ROM was measured. The hamstrings and gastrocnemius muscles from the animals operated for 1 or 16 weeks were subjected to morphological analysis.

Results

In immobilized knees, the relative contribution of the PT biarticular myogenic components to the total restriction reached 80% throughout the first 4 weeks and decreased thereafter. The relative contribution of the PL biarticular myogenic components remained <20% throughout the immobilization period. The ratio of the myofiber CSA of the immobilized to that of the sham-operated knees was significantly lower at 16 weeks after surgery than at 1 week after surgery only in the hamstrings.

Conclusions

The relative contribution of the PT and PL components to myogenic contracture did not significantly change during the experimental period. However, the ratio of hamstrings CSAs to the sham side was larger than the ratio of medial gastrocnemius CSAs to the sham side after complete atrophy because of immobilization.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Nagai et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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