Quantitative model for predicting lymph formation and muscle compressibility in skeletal muscle during contraction and stretch.

ABSTRACT: Skeletal muscle is widely perceived as nearly incompressible despite the fact that blood and lymphatic vessels within the endomysial and perimysial spaces undergo significant changes in diameter and length during stretch and contraction. These fluid shifts between fascicle and interstitial compartments have proved extremely difficult to measure. In this paper, we propose a theoretical framework based on a space-filling hexagonal fascicle array to provide predictions of the displacement of blood and lymph into and out of the muscle's endomysium and perimysium during stretch and contraction. We also use this model to quantify the distribution of blood and initial lymphatic (IL) vessels within a fascicle and its perimysial space using data for the rat spinotrapezius muscle. On average, there

SUBMITTER: Causey L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3384164 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature