Mechanical Properties of Tendons: Changes With Sterilization and Preservation

Smith, Chris; Young, Iain S.; Kearney, J. N.

doi:10.1115/1.2795946

Cited by 148 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…First, there are data suggesting that the freeze-thaw process tends to reduce the elastic modulus of human tendon (Clavert et al 2001;Smith et al 1996). Those experiments, however, were performed under load-to-failure conditions, whereas our data were obtained within the physiologic loading range.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 38%

High Stiffness of Human Digital Flexor Tendons Is Suited for Precise Finger Positional Control

Ward

Loren²,

Lundberg³

et al. 2006

Journal of Neurophysiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ward, Samuel R., Gregory J. Loren, Scott Lundberg, and Richard L. Lieber. High stiffness of human digital flexor tendons is suited for precise finger positional control. J Neurophysiol 96: 2815-2818, 2006. First published July 26, 2006 doi:10.1152/jn.00284.2006. The objective of this study was to define the biomechanical properties of the human digital flexor tendons and to compare these biomechanical properties to other muscle-tendon units in the forearm. Mechanical measurements were performed on fresh-frozen tendons under physiological load and temperature conditions. Loads were determined by first measuring the physiological cross-sectional area of each digital belly of the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) and flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) and estimating maximum tension (P o ) of that specific muscle head. Loading each tendon to the appropriate P o resulted in no significant difference in tendon strain among any of the tendons within each muscle (P Ͼ 0.05; digits 2-5) or between muscle types (FDP vs. FDS). The one exception to this finding was that a significantly higher strain at Po was observed in the FDP tendon to the small finger (P Ͻ 0.05). Average absolute strains observed for the FDP and FDS tendons (1.20 Ϯ 0.38%, mean Ϯ SD; n ϭ 39) were significantly lower than those observed previously in a study of the prime movers of the wrist. The measured strain of ϳ1.5% was less than half of that predicted to occur in muscles of this architectural design. Modeling sarcomere shortening magnitudes during FDP or FDS contraction yielded a value of only 0.10 m, which would have a negligible effect on the force generating capacity of these muscles. Thus the high stiffness of the digital flexor tendons suits them well for fine positional control and would render their muscle spindles quite sensitive to length perturbations at the fingertips. I N T R O D U C T I O NThe control of movement by the neuromuscular system requires coordination between the physiological properties of the neural activation system and the biomechanical properties of the muscle-tendon unit. All muscle actions are "interpreted" by the tendinous material that is placed in series with the muscle. As such, significant tendon compliance may have a profound effect on the muscle's ability to control movement or to sense joint position. Although the biomechanical properties of isolated tendon specimens have been studied in some detail (Butler et al. 1978), only recently have muscle-tendon interactions been characterized under physiological conditions (Buchanan et al. 2001;De Zee et al. 2000;Lieber et al. 2000). These "physiologically relevant" biomechanical studies have demonstrated that tendons are more than inert connectors between muscles and bones, rather their mechanical properties are customized to provide specializations that enable certain muscle-tendon units to accomplish a particular task. In a previous study, it was found that tendon compliance measured under physiological loads (from 0 up to maximum tetanic tension, i.e., P o ) of the...

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 38%

High Stiffness of Human Digital Flexor Tendons Is Suited for Precise Finger Positional Control

Ward

Loren²,

Lundberg³

et al. 2006

Journal of Neurophysiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For doses up to 35 kGy, several studies [7,8,10,[18][19][20] have reported a significant effect on the post-yield properties of cortical bone, in particular significant reductions in plastic properties such as ultimate strength and work-of-fracture, but little effect on the elastic properties, i.e., stiffness and elastic limit. Conversely, other studies on bones and tendons [9,14,21,22] have claimed no significant reduction in biomechanical properties after similar doses. Nevertheless, a general consensus is that bones and tissues can be partially protected from free radical damage by treatment radioprotectants, i.e., deep freezing during radiation [19], or freeze drying and/or use of antioxicant ascorbate [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…At the high dose end (>10 kGy), gamma irradiation is commonly used to terminally sterilize allograft tissues and bones [2][3][4][5], and has been proven to be very potent sterilization agent with the ability to effectively penetrate tissue. However, gamma irradiation is also known to adversely affect the mechanical and biological properties of tissue in a dose-dependent manner by degrading the collagen [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Specifically, gamma rays split polypeptide chains; in wet specimens, irradiation causes release of free radicals via radiolysis of water molecules that induces cross-linking reactions in collagen molecules [15][16][17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the effect of X-ray irradiation on the deformation and fracture behavior of human cortical bone

Barth

Launey

MacDowell

et al. 2010

Bone

178

108

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In situ mechanical testing coupled with imaging using high-energy synchrotron x-ray diffraction or tomography imaging is gaining in popularity as a technique to investigate micrometer and even sub-micrometer deformation and fracture mechanisms in mineralized tissues, such as bone and teeth. However, the role of the irradiation in affecting the nature and properties of the tissue is not always taken into account. Accordingly, we examine here the effect of x-ray synchrotron-source irradiation on the mechanistic aspects of deformation and fracture in human cortical bone. Specifically, the strength, ductility and fracture resistance (both work-of-fracture and resistancecurve fracture toughness) of human femoral bone in the transverse (breaking) orientation were evaluated following exposures to 0.05, 70, 210 and 630 kGy irradiation. Our results show that the radiation typically used in tomography imaging can have a major and deleterious impact on the strength, post-yield behavior and fracture toughness of cortical bone, with the severity of the effect progressively increasing with higher doses of radiation. Plasticity was essentially suppressed after as little as 70 kGy of radiation; the fracture toughness was decreased by a factor of five after 210 kGy of radiation. Mechanistically, the irradiation was found to alter the salient toughening mechanisms, manifest by the progressive elimination of the bone's capacity for plastic deformation which restricts the intrinsic toughening from the formation "plastic zones" around crack-like defects. Deep-ultraviolet Raman spectroscopy indicated that this behavior could be related to degradation in the collagen integrity.

show abstract

“…The active stress is prescribed explicitly as a function of time, mimicking a tetanic pulse with a duration of 0.9 s and a maximum stress of 100 kPa. The tendinous material behaviour is modelled linearly elastic with a Poisson ratio of 0.3 and a Young modulus of 200 MPa, which is an estimation of tendon stiffness at small strains (Smith et al, 1996). The same FE blood perfusion parameter values as in the test problem described above are used.…”

Section: Fe Simulation Of Blood Perfusion During Muscle Contractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanical blood-tissue interaction in contracting muscles

Vankan

Huyghe

Donkelaar

et al. 1998

Journal of Biomechanics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A finite element (FE) model of blood perfused biological tissue has been developed. Blood perfusion is described by fluid flow through a series of 5 intercommunicating vascular compartments that are embedded in the tissue. Each compartment is characterized by a blood flow permeability tensor, blood volume fraction and vessel compliance. Local non-linear relationships between intra-extra vascular pressure difference and blood volume fraction, and between blood volume fraction and the permeability tensor, are included in the FE model. To test the implementation of these non-linear relations, FE results of blood perfusion in a piece of tissue that is subject to increased intramuscular pressure, are compared to results that are calculated with a lumped parameter (LP) model of blood perfusion. FE simulation of blood flow through a contracting rat calf muscle is performed. The FE model used in this simulation contains a transversely isotropic, non-linearly elastic description of deforming muscle tissue, in which local contraction stress is prescribed as a function of time. FE results of muscle tension, total arterial inflow and total venous outflow of the muscle during contraction, correspond to experimental results of an isometrically and tetanically contracting rat calf muscle.

show abstract

Mechanical Properties of Tendons: Changes With Sterilization and Preservation

Cited by 148 publications

References 33 publications

High Stiffness of Human Digital Flexor Tendons Is Suited for Precise Finger Positional Control

High Stiffness of Human Digital Flexor Tendons Is Suited for Precise Finger Positional Control

On the effect of X-ray irradiation on the deformation and fracture behavior of human cortical bone

Mechanical blood-tissue interaction in contracting muscles

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About