Abstract
Purpose
We investigated the relationship between intramuscular adipose tissue (IntraMAT) and muscle stiffness (passive and mechanical) and lengthening in young individuals, hypothesizing that (1) passive muscle stiffness is negatively correlated with the IntraMAT content, and (2) the IntraMAT content is negatively correlated with mechanical changes in muscle stiffness and fascicle length during passive dorsiflexion.
Methods
Twenty men and women (20.3 ± 1.3 years) participated in this study. Axial T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging was performed at the thickest point of the medial gastrocnemius (MG) to measure the IntraMAT cross-sectional area (CSA) and muscle tissue CSA (units; cm2). The shear wave velocity (SWV) and fascicle length at the three ankle joint angles, namely 15° with plantarflexion (PF15), 0° with neutral position (NP), and 15° with dorsiflexion (DF15), were measured as parameters of muscle stiffness (unit; m/s) and lengthening (unit; cm) using ultrasound shear wave elastography and B-mode imaging. We further calculated the changes in SWV and fascicle length from PF15 to NP and from NP to DF15 as mechanical muscle stiffness and lengthening, respectively.
Results
There was a relationship between IntraMAT CSA and absolute SWV at DF15 (r = − 0.47, P < 0.05). Further, a relationship was observed between IntraMAT CSA and change in SWV and fascicle length from NP to DF15 (r = − 0.47 and r = 0.59, P < 0.05); whereas no relationship was observed between changes in fascicle length and muscle SWV (r = − 0.23, P = 0.33).
Conclusion
These results may indicate biomechanical and/or physiological associations between IntraMAT CSA and passive muscle stiffness.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.
Abbreviations
- CSA:
-
Cross-sectional area
- CV:
-
Coefficient of variation
- DF:
-
Dorsiflexion
- IntraMAT:
-
Intramuscular adipose tissue
- IMCT:
-
Intramuscular connective tissues
- MG:
-
Medial gastrocnemius
- MRI:
-
Magnetic resonance imaging
- NP:
-
Neutral position
- PF:
-
Plantarflexion
- ROI:
-
Region of interest
- SWV:
-
Shear wave velocity
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Funding
This study was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI grant to RA (grant number 18K17813).
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AY, RA and HA conceived the research. AY, RA and HA designed the experiments. RA collected data. AY and RA analyzed data. AY and RA wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.
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Communicated by Olivier Seynnes.
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Yoshiko, A., Ando, R. & Akima, H. Passive muscle stiffness is correlated with the intramuscular adipose tissue in young individuals. Eur J Appl Physiol 123, 1081–1090 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05137-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05137-z