Aponeurosis Structure-function Properties: Evidence of Heterogeneity and Implications for Muscle Function
Publication Date
9-2023
Description
Aponeurosis is a sheath-like connective tissue that aids in force transmission from muscle to tendon and can be found throughout the musculoskeletal system. The key role of aponeurosis in muscle-tendon unit mechanics is clouded by a lack of understanding of aponeurosis structure-function properties. This work aimed to determine the heterogeneous materialproperties ofporcine tricepsbrachiiaponeurosis tissue with materials testing and evaluate heterogeneous aponeurosis microstructure with scanning electron microscopy. We found that aponeurosis may exhibit more microstructural collagen waviness in the insertion region (near the tendon) compared to the transition region (near the muscle midbelly)(1.20 versus 1.12, p=0.055), which anda less stiff stress-strain response in the insertion versus transition regions(p<0.05). We also showed that different assumptions of aponeurosis heterogeneity, specifically variations in elastic modulus with location can alter the stiffness(by more than 10x)and strain(by approximately 10%muscle fiber strain)of a finite element model of muscle and aponeurosis. Collectively, these results suggest that aponeurosis heterogeneity could be due to variations in tissue microstructure and that different approaches to modeling tissue heterogeneity altersthe behavior of computational models of muscle-tendon units.
Journal
Acta Biomaterialia
Volume
168
First Page
298
Last Page
308
Department
Mechanical Engineering
Link to Published Version
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1742706123003604?via%3Dihub
DOI
https://doi.org/10.31224/3464
Recommended Citation
Wheatley, Benjamin; Dyer, Olivia L.; Tully, Emily E.; and Seeley, Mark A.. "Aponeurosis Structure-function Properties: Evidence of Heterogeneity and Implications for Muscle Function." (2023) : 298-308.