SGER: A Multi-Scale Modeling Approach for Skeletal Muscle

University Of Virginia Main Campus, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this project is to create a new modeling framework for multi-scale analysis of skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscle has a hierarchical structure in which thousands of muscle cells are arranged in an extracellular connective tissue network to work in concert and actuate movement. The properties of isolated muscle cells have been studied extensively. However, the collective behavior of the cells in this connective tissue hierarchy during realistic complex three-dimensional deformations has not been characterized. Thus, the relationship between muscle cell properties and whole muscle behavior is not well understood. The first aim of the study will develop a constitutive relationship for skeletal muscle tissue based on the properties of the cellular and extracellular structures. The second aim will combine this constitutive relationship with a hierarchical finite-element modeling scheme to calculate strains at the muscle cell level during realistic three-dimensional deformations of muscle tissue. The third aim of the study will use these modeling tools to determine how variations in the cellular-level structures affect the overall muscle behavior and the cellular level strains. These analyses will advance our understanding of the relationship between muscle structure and function, and have broad impact in the areas of muscle mechanics, musculoskeletal modeling, muscle adaptation, and the characterization of musculoskeletal impairments. Based on the framework, a research tool and associated demonstration for scientists and students with a broad range of backgrounds will be created and shared with the academic community.