Myo-mechanical Analysis of Isolated Skeletal Muscle

To assess the in vivo effects of therapeutic interventions for the treatment of muscle disease (1,2,3), quantitative methods are needed that measure force generation and fatigability in treated muscle. We describe a detailed approach to evaluating myo-mechanical properties in freshly explanted hindlimb muscle from the mouse. We describe the atraumatic harvest of mouse extensor digitorum longus muscle, mounting the muscle in a muscle strip myograph (Model 820MS; Danish Myo Technology), and the measurement of maximal twitch and tetanic tension, contraction time, and half-relaxation time, using a square pulse stimulator (Model S48; Grass Technologies). Using these measurements, we demonstrate the calculation of specific twitch and tetanic tension normalized to muscle cross-sectional area, the twitch-to-tetanic tension ratio, the force-frequency relationship curve and the low frequency fatigue curve (4). This analysis provides a method for quantitative comparison between therapeutic interventions in mouse models of muscle disease (1,2,3,5), as well as comparison of the effects of genetic modification on muscle function (6,7,8,9).