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Fascia y Transmision de La Fuerza PDF
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Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies (2010) 14, 411e417
available at www.sciencedirect.com
FASCIA PHYSIOLOGY
Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada
Received 13 October 2009; received in revised form 3 January 2010; accepted 7 January 2010
KEYWORDS Summary This paper reviews the major intramuscular extracellular matrix (IM-ECM) struc-
Muscle; tures (endomysium, perimysium and epimysium) and their possible mechanical contributions
Connective tissue; to muscle functions. The endomysium appears to provide an efficient mechanism for transmis-
Extracellular matrix; sion of contractile forces from adjacent muscle fibres within fascicles. This coordinates forces
Mechanical function; and deformations within the fascicle, protects damaged areas of fibres against over-extension,
Myofascial force and provides a mechanism whereby myofibrils can be interrupted to add new sarcomeres
transmission; during muscle growth without loss of contractile functionality of the whole column. Good
Endomysium; experimental evidence shows that perimysium and epimysium are capable in some circum-
Perimysium; stances to act as pathways for myofascial force transmission. However, an alternative role
MMPs; for perimysium is reviewed, which involves the definition of slip planes between muscle fasci-
ECM turnover cles which can slide past each other to allow large shear displacements due to shape changes
in the whole muscle during contraction. As IM-ECM is continually remodelled so as to be me-
chanically adapted for its roles in developing and growing muscles, control of the processes
governing IM-ECM turnover and repair may be an important avenue to explore in the reduction
of fibrosis following muscle injury.
ª 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1360-8592/$ - see front matter ª 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jbmt.2010.01.005
412 P.P. Purslow
composition of IM-ECM
changes (Velleman et al., 1999; Listrat et al., 1999; Lawson of a network of collagen fibrils and fibres in a proteoglycan
and Purslow, 2001). Spatial variations between the endo- matrix.
mysium and perimysium within one muscle (Nishimura The thickness of the endomysium as a whole varies with
et al., 1997) and differences in expression of both collagen muscle length, becoming thicker at short muscle lengths
type I and PG components such as laminin between muscles and thinner as the muscle is extended (see Trotter and
(Lawson and Purslow, 2001) are both determined early in Purslow, 1992). Transmission electron micrography of intact
prenatal development. In bovine muscles, type I collagen endomysium in situ confirms that all of the collagen fibres
expression is always higher than type III expression at all in the network layer lie in the plane of the layer (Trotter
stages of gestation and post-natally (Listrat et al., 1999). and Purslow, 1992). The only location where this does not
Thus some differences in the composition of intramuscular hold true is in the junction zones between the perimysium
Lateral load sharing through the endomysium is an (Fang et al., 1999). The collagen fibres lie in the plane of the
important concept that also explains how it is possible for perimysium, do not run through its thickness, and all the
muscles to grow and to repair damaged sarcomeres. Lateral collagen fibres in each ‘‘ply’’ are parallel to each other and
load sharing and coordination of deformations means that lie at 55 to the muscle fibre axis at the resting length of the
a fibre can be interrupted for the addition of new sarco- muscle. This angle changes with muscle length, varying from
meres necessary for muscle lengthening during growth, around 80 at an extremely short sarcomere length of 1.1 mm
without loss of function of an entire contractile column. By to approximately 20 at a long sarcomere length of 3.9 mm
the same mechanism, the contractile capacity of the (Purslow, 1989). Mathematical modelling of the tensile
weakness of a sarcomere in which damaged myofibrils are properties in the plane of this network using fibrous
being broken down and remodelled during muscle repair composites theory (Purslow, 1989), and direct measure-
connections permit fascicles to slide past each other, and et al., 2009). Beta-adrenergic agonists (e.g. clenbuterol, rac-
also facilitate shape changes in the muscle during contrac- topamine, cimaterol, salbutamol) mimic this effect and
tion. All fan-shaped, fusiform, and especially pennate chronic administration of these growth promoters leads to
muscles change shape when contracting, and in order to muscle hypertrophy or amelioration of muscle wasting
accommodate this there must be slippage, or sliding, of some (Navegantes et al., 2002). Although some reports associate the
elements within the muscle (i.e. shear deformations). For effect of catecholamines on protein metabolism with c-AMP
pennate muscles it is easy to formally calculate the shear dependent kinase, Yamaguchi et al. (1997) showed that the
strains within the muscles as they contract and the pennation p38 MAPK pathway can be activated by beta-adrenergic
angles change. In ultrasonic images of human muscles, receptors in kidney cells. Expression of MMPs 1 and 13 is acti-
‘‘boundaries’’ between fascicles can be seen, and vated by the p38 MAPK pathway in keratinocytes (Johansson
PREVENTION & REHABILITATION dFASCIA PHYSIOLOGY
measurement of changes in the angle of these during et al., 2000). Recent work in our laboratory (Cha and Purslow,
contraction allows shear strains to be predicted. Shear unpublished data) shows that both skeletal muscle fibroblasts
strains within working human muscles are substantial and and myoblasts increase MMP expression in the presence of
vary considerably between human muscles such as quadri- epinephrine, but with different time-courses and degrees of
ceps, vastus lateralis and gastrocnemius (Purslow, 2002). If correlation with expression of AMP-activated protein kinase.
the endomysium maintains adjacent muscle fibres in tight Cardiac muscle is obviously different from striated muscle
shear register, then where can these large and variable shear functionally and structurally, yet there are striking similari-
strains be accommodated? Simple observations on rigor ties about the organisation and function of ECM structures
muscle that is manipulated to produce internal shear show between the two muscle types (Purslow, 2008). A change in
that deformations preferentially occur at the boundaries the balance between synthesis and degradation of ECM in the
between fascicles, and that very little shear displacements myocardium is a characteristic of many types of heart
occur within a fascicle (Purslow, 1999). If the theory that the failure, including hypertensive heart failure and infarction/
division of muscle into fascicles is to facilitate shear defor- ischemia (Berk et al., 2007; Graham et al., 2008). Banfi et al.
mations that are necessary for contracting muscle to change (2005) reported increased plasma levels of MMPs 2&9 in
shape is correct, then it seems to offer an explanation of why patients with chronic heart failure and also a significant
the amount and distribution of perimysium changes so very correlation between norepinephrine and MMP2 levels.
markedly from muscle to muscle. Thin perimysia surrounding Cardiac fibroblasts are known to react to both mechanical
small fascicles in long strap-like muscles may be associated stimuli and catecholamines in terms of both proliferation and
with relatively small shear displacements, whereas thicker expression (Villareal and Kim, 1997), and cardiomyocytes
perimysial sheets and larger primary fascicles may relate to from chick embryos are known to react to stimulation of the
larger shear displacements. However, comprehensive data alpha-adrenergic receptor via noradrenaline by activation of
on the relationship between perimysial thickness, fascicle p38 MAPK (Tsang and Rabkin, 2009). Ongoing studies to
size, and the actual distributions of shear strains in working provide fundamental information about the control of
muscles need to be collected to test this theory. expression of IM-ECM forming cells may have far-reaching
impact on muscle ageing, injury, and repair.
Control of turnover of IM-ECM as a possible
treatment in muscle injury and repair of References
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