PUMA publications for /group/simtech/experimentsThu May 15 15:36:41 CEST 2025Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials08107008Age-dependent properties of the rabbit calf musculature — Relationship between mechanic and microstructure1682025microstructure Soleus experiments Plantaris tissue characteristics cuniculus muscles Morphology Mechanical muscle Oryctolagus Muscle dependent Gastrocnemius Age In order to meet the requirements of body weight and height and the associated changing tasks and movement patterns during the growth of living bodies, significant changes in the skeletal musculature occur during this phase. In this study, the age-dependent (between 21 and 100 days) mechanical and microstructural tissue behaviour of the calf musculature, consisting of soleus muscles (SOL), gastrocnemius muscles (GAS) and plantaris muscles (PLA), was examined. To this end, cubic muscle tissue samples were examined using axial and semi-confined compression experiments. In addition, the essential muscle tissue components (muscle fibres, extracellular matrix, remaining components) were analysed. In a final step, these results were linked to morphological properties of the animals and muscles (animal mass, muscle mass, tibia length). Interestingly, the mechanical properties of the individual muscle types hardly differ from each other during growth, while both the morphological and microstructural properties change significantly. Thus, a clear increase of all morphological parameters (animal mass by 850%, muscle mass by 1000% (SOL), 1183% (GAS) and 1050% (PLA), tibia length by 235%) can be seen. In comparison, the microstructural parameters show a less consistent trend. The proportion of muscle fibres in the tissue cross-section increases by about 138% in the SOL, whereas the fibre proportion in both the GAS and PLA increases by only 109%. Consequently, the ECM proportion in the tissue cross-section decreases by 48%, 58% and 52% for SOL, GAS and PLA. Overall, the data obtained her e provides a deeper understanding of muscle growth and, in particular, of different muscle types that have different functions inside the calf. On the other hand, these data represent a good and comprehensive basis for later model developments.Tue Jul 19 11:10:29 CEST 2022Pflugers Arch06911-920Influence of layer separation on the determination of stomach smooth muscle properties.4732021Stomach Uniaxial Force experiments velocity length layer relationship muscle Contractile Separated tensile wall Organ properties Uniaxial tensile experiments are a standard method to determine the contractile properties of smooth muscles. Smooth muscle strips from organs of the urogenital and gastrointestinal tract contain multiple muscle layers with different muscle fiber orientations, which are frequently not separated for the experiments. During strip activation, these muscle fibers contract in deviant orientations from the force-measuring axis, affecting the biomechanical characteristics of the tissue strips. This study aimed to investigate the influence of muscle layer separation on the determination of smooth muscle properties. Smooth muscle strips, consisting of longitudinal and circumferential muscle layers (whole-muscle strips [WMS]), and smooth muscle strips, consisting of only the circumferential muscle layer (separated layer strips [SLS]), have been prepared from the fundus of the porcine stomach. Strips were mounted with muscle fibers of the circumferential layer inline with the force-measuring axis of the uniaxial testing setup. The force–length (FLR) and force–velocity relationships (FVR) were determined through a series of isometric and isotonic contractions, respectively. Muscle layer separation revealed no changes in the FLR. However, the SLS exhibited a higher maximal shortening velocity and a lower curvature factor than WMS. During WMS activation, the transversally oriented muscle fibers of the longitudinal layer shortened, resulting in a narrowing of this layer. Expecting volume constancy of muscle tissue, this narrowing leads to a lengthening of the longitudinal layer, which counteracted the shortening of the circumferential layer during isotonic contractions. Consequently, the shortening velocities of the WMS were decreased significantly. This effect was stronger at high shortening velocities.Tue Jul 19 11:10:29 CEST 2022Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials03104275Location- and layer-dependent biomechanical and microstructural characterisation of the porcine urinary bladder wall1152021tension Biaxial experiments staining Layer specific Tissue muscle testing Smooth Microstructure Tue Jul 19 11:10:29 CEST 2022Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials09105347A pilot study on active and passive ex vivo characterisation of the urinary bladder and its impact on three-dimensional modelling1332022organ experiments Whole modelling characteristics Urinary bladder Active Ex Inspo Siebert vivo Insight into the global deformation of the urinary bladder during passive and active phases is crucial for understanding the biomechanics and function of the organ. Therefore, in the present study, the three-dimensional deformations of the porcine urinary bladder were investigated using 10 cameras in ex vivo experiments. Voltages between 20 V and 40 V were applied to induce contraction without outflow (isovolumetric) and against different back pressures (isobaric). The fluid volume in the bladder and the fluid volume pushed out of the bladder in the active state were measured. During filling, a roughly constant pressure of 2.5–4 cmH2O was measured for a large volume range, followed by a steep increase. Overall, the urinary bladder shape changes from elliptical to spherical in the active phase, resulting in a more homogeneous stress field. The active pressure decreases with increasing volume, while the actively generated stress increases up to 65 kPa at the maximum volume examined. Smaller filling volumes and lower back pressures allowed complete emptying, whereas higher back pressures prevent full emptying from larger filling states. Finally, a recently developed three-dimensional model was used to describe the active and passive bladder characteristics in order to qualitatively represent the mechanical properties. Overall, this study provides for the first time a comprehensive experimental data set at organ level that leads to an improved understanding of load transfer mechanisms within the urinary bladder and serves to validate corresponding models.