Water deprivation decreases strength in fast twitch muscle in contrast to slow twitch muscle in rat.

AIM: The effects of dehydration on muscle performance in human are still contradictory, notably regarding muscle force. The effect of water deprivation (WD) on mechanical properties of skeletal muscle, and more precisely its impact on slow and fast muscles, remains largely unknown. The aim of this study was to determine for the first time whether WD leads to changes in contractile properties of skeletal muscle and whether these changes were muscle-type-specific. METHODS: Sixteen-week-old male rats were assigned to either a control group (C) with water or a 96-hour WD group. At the end of the period, twitch and tetanus properties, as well as biochemical and structural analysis, were performed on soleus (SOL) and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles. RESULTS: Absolute twitch (Pt) and tetanic (P0 ) tension were, respectively, 17% and 14% lower in EDL of WD rats as compared with C rats, whereas unexpected increases of 43% and 25% were observed in SOL. Tensions normalized with respect to muscle mass were not affected by WD in EDL, whereas they were increased by more than 40% in SOL. A 96-hour WD period leads to a decrease in fibre cross-sectional area and absolute myofibrillar content only in EDL. CONCLUSION: It is hypothesized that differences in the results between slow and fast muscles may come from (i) a muscle-type-specific effect of WD on protein balance, EDL showing a greater myofibrillar protein breakdown and (ii) a greater sensitivity to osmolality changes induced by WD in EDL than in SOL.

Skeletal muscle morphology and regulatory signalling in endurance-trained and sedentary individuals: The influence of ageing.

Muscle mass in humans is inversely associated with circulating levels of inflammatory cytokines, but the interaction between ageing and training on muscle composition and the intra-muscular signalling behind inflammation and contractile protein synthesis and degradation is unknown. We studied 15 healthy life-long endurance runners, 12 age-matched untrained controls, 10 young trained and 12 young untrained individuals. Thigh muscle composition was investigated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), where non-contractile intramuscular tissue (NCIT) area (fat and connective tissue) was found to be greater in older but lower in trained individuals. Subcutaneous adipose tissue was also lower in trained individuals but was not affected by age. In vastus lateralis biopsies, no influence of age or training was found on levels of endomysial collagen, determined by Sirius Red and Collagen III staining, whereas perimysial organisation tended to be more complex in older individuals. No clear difference with training was seen on intramuscular inflammatory signalling, whereas lower protein levels of NFkB subunits p105, p50 and p65 were observed with ageing. Gene expression of IL6 and TNFα was not different between groups, while IL1-receptor and TNFα-receptor1 levels were lower with age. Myostatin mRNA was lower in older and trained groups, while expression of MuRF1 was lower in trained individuals and FoxO3 expression was greater in aged groups. The association of increased muscle NCIT with age-associated muscle loss in humans is not accompanied by any major alterations in intramuscular signalling for inflammation, but rather by direct regulatory factors for protein synthesis and proteolysis in skeletal muscle.

Denoising of HD-sEMG signals using canonical correlation analysis.

High-density surface electromyography (HD-sEMG) is a recent technique that overcomes the limitations of monopolar and bipolar sEMG recordings and enables the collection of physiological and topographical informations concerning muscle activation. However, HD-sEMG channels are usually contaminated by noise in an heterogeneous manner. The sources of noise are mainly power line interference (PLI), white Gaussian noise (WGN) and motion artifacts (MA). The spectral components of these disruptive signals overlap with the sEMG spectrum which makes classical filtering techniques non effective, especially during low contraction level recordings. In this study, we propose to denoise HD-sEMG recordings at 20 % of the maximum voluntary contraction by using a second-order blind source separation technique, named canonical component analysis (CCA). For this purpose, a specific and automatic canonical component selection, using noise ratio thresholding, and a channel selection procedure for the selective version (sCCA) are proposed. Results obtained from the application of the proposed methods (CCA and sCCA) on realistic simulated data demonstrated the ability of the proposed approach to retrieve the original HD-sEMG signals, by suppressing the PLI and WGN components, with high accuracy (for five different simulated noise dispersions using the same anatomy). Afterward, the proposed algorithms are employed to denoise experimental HD-sEMG signals from five healthy subjects during biceps brachii contractions following an isometric protocol. Obtained results showed that PLI and WGN components could be successfully removed, which enhances considerably the SNR of the channels with low SNR and thereby increases the mean SNR value among the grid. Moreover, the MA component is often isolated on specific estimated sources but requires additional signal processing for a total removal. In addition, comparative study with independent component analysis, CCA-wavelet and CCA-empirical mode decomposition (EMD) proved a higher efficiency of the presented method over existing denoising techniques and demonstrated pointless a second filtering stage for denoising HD-sEMG recordings at this contraction level.

Evaluation of HD-sEMG Probability Density Function deformations in ramp exercise.

The aim of the present study is to propose a subject-specific screening approach of High Density surface EMG (HD-sEMG) Probability Density Function (PDF) shape evolution in experimental conditions following a ramp exercise from 0% to 50% of the Maximum Voluntary Contraction (MVC) during 25 seconds of isometric contractions of the Biceps Brachii from six healthy subjects. This method uses High Order Statistics (HOS), namely the kurtosis and the skewness for PDF shape screening examined on selectively positioned Laplacian sEMG channels obtained on an 8×8 HD-sEMG grid. For each subject, the position of the Laplacian channels was chosen based on the level of muscle activation obtained from the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) matrix computed for the 64 sEMG signals of the grid in order to obtain independent Laplacian configurations localized in areas with high SNRs indicating high muscle activation. Afterwards, we used the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to obtain the principal trend of the kurtosis and the skewness computed from the selected Laplacian signals according to force level variation. The obtained results show a globally common increasing HOS trend according to force increase from 0% to 50% MVC for all the subjects regardless of the anatomical, instrumental and physiological variability that usually strongly influences these trends.

Life-long endurance exercise in humans: circulating levels of inflammatory markers and leg muscle size.

Human aging is associated with a loss of skeletal muscle and an increase in circulating inflammatory markers. It is unknown whether endurance training (Tr) can prevent these changes. Therefore we studied 15 old trained (O-Tr) healthy males and, for comparison, 12 old untrained (O-Un), 10 Young-Tr (Y-Tr) and 12 Young-Un (Y-Un). Quadriceps size, VO2 peak, CRP, IL-6, TNF-α and its receptors, suPAR, lipid profile, leucocytes and glucose homeostasis were measured. Tr was associated with an improved insulin profile (p<0.05), and lower leucocyte (p<0.05) and triglyceride levels (p<0.05), independent of age. Aging was associated with poorer glucose control (p<0.05), independent of training. The age-related changes in waist circumference, VO2 peak, cholesterol, LDL, leg muscle size, CRP and IL-6 were counteracted by physical activity (p<0.05). A significant increase in suPAR with age was observed (p<0.05). Most importantly, life-long endurance exercise was associated with a lower level of the inflammatory markers CRP and IL-6 (p<0.05), and with a greater thigh muscle area (p<0.05), compared to age-matched untrained counterparts. These findings in a limited group of individuals suggest that regular physical endurance activity may play a role in reducing some markers of systemic inflammation, even within the normal range, and in maintaining muscle mass with aging.

Training-induced changes in structural and mechanical properties of the patellar tendon are related to muscle hypertrophy but not to strength gains.

To obtain a better understanding of the adaptations of human tendon to chronic overloading, we examined the relationships between these adaptations and the changes in muscle structure and function. Fifteen healthy male subjects (20+/-2 yr) underwent 9 wk of knee extension resistance training. Patellar tendon stiffness and modulus were assessed with ultrasonography, and cross-sectional area (CSA) was determined along the entire length of the tendon by using magnetic resonance imaging. In the quadriceps muscles, architecture and volume measurements were combined to obtain physiological CSA (PCSA), and maximal isometric force was recorded. Following training, muscle force and PCSA increased by 31% (P<0.0001) and 7% (P<0.01), respectively. Tendon CSA increased regionally at 20-30%, 60%, and 90-100% of tendon length (5-6%; P<0.05), and tendon stiffness and modulus increased by 24% (P<0.001) and 20% (P<0.01), respectively. Although none of the tendon adaptations were related to strength gains, we observed a positive correlation between the increase in quadriceps PCSA and the increases in tendon stiffness (r=0.68; P<0.01) and modulus (r=0.75; P<0.01). Unexpectedly, the increase in muscle PCSA was inversely related to the distal and the mean increases in tendon CSA (in both cases, r=-0.64; P<0.05). These data suggest that, following short-term resistance training, changes in tendon mechanical and material properties are more closely related to the overall loading history and that tendon hypertrophy is driven by other mechanisms than those eliciting tendon stiffening.