Administration of soluble activin receptor 2B increases bone and muscle mass in a mouse model of osteogenesis imperfecta

Osteogenesis imperfecta（OI） comprises a group of heritable connective tissue disorders generally defined by recurrent fractures, low bone mass, short stature and skeletal fragility. Beyond the skeletal complications of OI,many patients also report intolerance to physical activity, fatigue and muscle weakness. Indeed, recent studies have demonstrated that skeletal muscle is also negatively affected by OI, both directly and indirectly. Given the well-established interdependence of bone and skeletal muscle in both physiology and pathophysiology and the observations of skeletal muscle pathology in patients with OI, we investigated the therapeutic potential of simultaneous anabolic targeting of both bone and skeletal muscle using a soluble activin receptor 2B（ACVR2B） in a mouse model of type Ⅲ OI（oim）. Treatment of 12-week-old oim mice with ACVR2 B for 4 weeks resulted in significant increases in both bone and muscle that were similar to those observed in healthy,wild-type littermates. This proof of concept study provides encouraging evidence for a holistic approach to treating the deleterious consequences of OI in the musculoskeletal system.

One-dimensional chain of quantum molecule motors as a mathematical physics model for muscle fibers

A quantum chain model of multiple molecule motors is proposed as a mathematical physics theory for the microscopic modeling of classical force-velocity relation and tension transients in muscle fibers. The proposed model was a quantum many-particle Hamiltonian to predict the force-velocity relation for the slow release of muscle fibers, which has not yet been empirically defined and was much more complicated than the hyperbolic relationships. Using the same Hamiltonian model, a mathematical force-velocity relationship was proposed to explain the tension observed when the muscle was stimulated with an alternative electric current. The discrepancy between input electric frequency and the muscle oscillation frequency could be explained physically by the Doppler effect in this quantum chain model. Further more, quantum physics phenomena were applied to explore the tension time course of cardiac muscle and insect flight muscle. Most of the experimental tension transient curves were found to correspond to the theoretical output of quantum two- and three-level models. Mathematical modeling electric stimulus as photons exciting a quantum three-level particle reproduced most of the tension transient curves of water bug Lethocerus maximus.

Nonlinearity of muscle stiffness

In this letter, a comparison between three types （two linear and one nonlinear） of models of skeletal muscle stiffness is shown. Results are compared with experimental data for biceps brachii in the case of muscle stretching and with the Hill equation for a biological muscle. It is shown that results for nonlinear stiffness model in case of length-force relationship fits to the experimental data.

Three-dimensional in vitro models of neuromuscular tissue

Skeletal muscle is a dynamic tissue in which homeostasis and function are guaranteed by a very defined three-dimensional organization of myofibers in respect to other nonmuscular components,including the extracellular matrix and the nervous network.In particular,communication between myofibers and the nervous system is essential for the overall correct development and function of the skeletal muscle.A wide range of chronic,acute and genetic-based human pathologies that lead to the alteration of muscle function are associated with modified preservation of the fine interaction between motor neurons and myofibers at the neuromuscular junction.Recent advancements in the development of in vitro models for human skeletal muscle have shown that three-dimensionality and integration of multiple cell types are both key parameters required to unveil pathophysiological relevant phenotypes.Here,we describe recent achievement reached in skeletal muscle modeling which used biomaterials for the generation of three-dimensional constructs of myotubes integrated with motor neurons.

A high-fidelity human cervical muscle finite element model for motion and injury studies

Active muscle response is a key factor in the motion and injury of the human head and neck.Due to the limitations of experimentation and the shortcomings of previous finite element models,the influence of material parameters of cervical muscle on motions of the head and neck during a car crash have not been comprehensively investigated.In the present work,a model of the cervical muscle in a 50th-percentile adult male was constructed.The muscles were modelled using solid finite elements,with a nonlinear-elastic and viscoelastic material and a Hill material modelling the passive and active parts of each muscle,respectively.The head dynamic responses of the model were validated using results obtained from volunteer sled tests.The influence of the material parameters of a muscle on head and neck motions were determined.Our key finding was that the greater the stiffness and the contraction strength of the neck muscles,the smaller the rotation angle of the head and the neck,and,hence,the lower the risk of head and neck injury to occupants in a car crash.

Bionic Muscle Control with Adaptive Stiffness for Bionic Parallel Mechanism

As the torso is critical to the coordinated movement and flexibility of vertebrates,a 6-(Degree of Freedom)DOF bionic parallel torso with noteworthy motion space was designed in our previous work.To improve the compliance of the parallel mechanism,a pair of virtual muscle models is constructed on both sides of the rotating joints of each link of the mechanism,and a bionic muscle control algorithm is introduced.By analyzing the control parameters of the muscle model,dynamic characteristics similar to those of biological muscle are obtained.An adaptive stiffness control is proposed to adaptively adjust the stiffness coefficient with the change in the external load of the parallel mechanism.The attitude closed-loop control can effectively keep the attitude angle unchanged when the position of the moving platform changes.The simulations and experiments are undertaken to validate compliant movements and the flexibility and adaptability of the parallel mechanism.

Bioinspired Musculoskeletal Model-based Soft Wrist Exoskeleton for Stroke Rehabilitation

Exoskeleton robots have demonstrated the potential to rehabilitate stroke dyskinesia.Unfortunately,poor human-machine physiological coupling causes unexpected damage to human of muscles and joints.Moreover,inferior humanoid kinematics control would restrict human natural kinematics.Failing to deal with these problems results in bottlenecks and hinders its application.In this paper,the simplified muscle model and muscle-liked kinematics model were proposed,based on which a soft wrist exoskeleton was established to realize natural human interaction.Firstly,we simplified the redundant muscular system related to the wrist joint from ten muscles to four,so as to realize the human-robot physiological coupling.Then,according to the above human-like musculoskeletal model,the humanoid distributed kinematics control was established to achieve the two DOFs coupling kinematics of the wrist.The results show that the wearer of an exoskeleton could reduce muscle activation and joint force by 43.3%and 35.6%,respectively.Additionally,the humanoid motion trajectories similarity of the robot reached 91.5%.Stroke patients could recover 90.3%of natural motion ability to satisfy for most daily activities.This work provides a fundamental understanding on human-machine physiological coupling and humanoid kinematics control of the exoskeleton robots for reducing the post-stroke complications.

Dynamic skin deformation simulation using musculoskeletal model and soft tissue dynamics

Deformation of skin and muscle is essential for bringing an animated character to life. This deformation is difficult to animate in a realistic fashion using traditional techniques because of the subtlety of the skin deformations that must move appropriately for the character design. In this paper, we present an algorithm that generates natural, dynamic, and detailed skin deformation(movement and jiggle) from joint angle data sequences. The algorithm has two steps: identification of parameters for a quasi-static muscle deformation model, and simulation of skin deformation. In the identification step, we identify the model parameters using a musculoskeletal model and a short sequence of skin deformation data captured via a dense marker set. The simulation step first uses the quasi-static muscle deformation model to obtain the quasi-static muscle shape at each frame of the given motion sequence(slow jump). Dynamic skin deformation is then computed by simulating the passive muscle and soft tissue dynamics modeled as a mass–spring–damper system. Having obtained the model parameters, we can simulate dynamic skin deformations for subjects with similar body types from new motion data. We demonstrate our method by creating skin deformations for muscle co-contraction and external impacts from four different behaviors captured as skeletal motion capture data. Experimental results show that the simulated skin deformations are quantitatively and qualitatively similar to measured actual skin deformations.

Collective mechanism of molecular motors and a dynamic mechanical model for sarcomere

A non-equilibrium statistical method is used to study the collective characteristics of myosin II motors in a sarcomere during its contraction. By means of Fokker-Planck equation of molecular motors, we present a dynamic mechanical model for the sarcomere in skeletal muscle. This model has been solved with a numerical algorithm based on experimental chemical transition rates. The influences of ATP concentration and load on probability density, contraction velocity and maximum active force are discussed respectively. It is shown that contraction velocity and maximum isometric active force increase with the increasing ATP concentration and become constant when the ATP concentration reaches equilibrium saturation. Contraction velocity reduces gradually as the load force increases. We also find that active force begins to increase then decrease with the increasing length of sarcomere, and has a maximum value at the optimal length that all myosin motors can attach to actin filament. Our results are in good agreement with the Hill muscle model.

Evaluation of upper limb muscle fatigue based on surface electromyography

Fatigue is believed to be a major contributory factor to occupational injuries in machine operators.The development of accurate and usable techniques to measure operator fatigue is therefore important.In this study,we used a novel method based on surface electromyography (sEMG) of the biceps brachii and the Borg scale to evaluate local muscle fatigue in the upper limb after isometric muscle action.Thirteen young males performed isometric actions with the upper limb at different force levels.sEMG activities of the biceps brachii were recorded during the actions.Borg scales were used to evaluate the subjective sensation of local fatigue of the biceps brachii after the actions.sEMG activities were analyzed using the one-third band octave method,and an equation to determine the degree of fatigue was derived based on the relationship between the variable and the Borg scale.The results showed that the relationship could be expressed by a conic curve,and could be used to evaluate muscle fatigue during machine operation.