Vascular photobiomodulation increases muscle fiber diameter and improves the gait during compensatory hypertrophy of plantar muscle in rats.

The local photobiomodulation (LPBM) has demonstrated positive effects during compensatory hypertrophy (CH) in skeletal muscle as a response to an overload. The aim was to compare the effects of the transcutaneous vascular photobiomodulation (VPBM) and the LPBM on muscle fiber size, gait functionality, and on mechanical sensitivity during the CH model in rats. VPBM was administered over the rat's main tail vein and LPBM was applied over the plantar muscle region. VPBM induced an increase in muscle fiber diameter and cross-sectional area (CSA) after 7 days. At 14 days, an increase in the fiber diameter was found in both irradiated groups. The VPBM and LPBM promoted the reestablishment of normal gait evaluated by the sciatic functional index after 14 days. No changes were found in the mechanical (nociceptive) sensitivity in VPBM and LPBM groups in comparison to the CH group but there was an increase in the nociceptive sensitivity in the CH groups in comparison to the control after 7 and 14 days. In conclusion, both PBM, vascular and local, were able to improve the muscle size and gait during the CH process with more pronounced effects when irradiation was performed systemically (VPBM).

Whole-mount intramuscular nerve distribution pattern of medial and lateral plantar muscles and its clinical significance / 解剖学报

Objective To reveal the whole-mount distribution pattern of intramuscular nerves in the medial and lateral plantar muscles and to explore its clinical significance. Methods Twenty-four adult cadavers were dissected to remove the medial and lateral groups of the plantar muscles. The distribution pattern of the intramuscular nerves was demonstrated by modified Sihler' s staining. Results The nerve branch for adductor hallucis muscle entered the muscle from the deep surface of the insertion of the muscle, while those nerve branches for abductor hallucis, flexor hallucis brevis, abductor digiti minimi and flexor digiti minimi brevis muscles entered the muscle from the deep side of the origin of the muscle. There were one lunate and one rectangular intramuscular nerve dense regions (INDRs) in the abductor hallucis muscle; two reniform INDRs in the transverse head of the adductor hallucis muscle, one reniform and one rectangular INDRs in the oblique head of the adductor hallucis muscle; there were two rectangle INDRs in the flexor hallucis brevis, abductor digiti minimi and flexor digiti minimi brevis muscles. These five muscles were divided into two neuromuscular compartment, but the percentage position of INDR and the center of INDR on muscle length in each muscle were different. Conclusion These result may provide morphological guidance for surgical operation to avoid nerve injury, the selection and matching of muscle transplantation and the injection of botulinum toxin A to block the spasticity of these muscles.

Agenesis of the medial gastrocnemius and plantar muscle: case presentation / Agenesia del gastrocnemio medial y del músculo plantar: presentación de caso

We present the case of a left medial gastrocnemius and plantar muscle agenesis in a 58-years old male cadaveric specimen from the Anatomy Laboratory at the Universidad Industrial de Santander (Bucaramanga-Colombia). These unusual muscle absences and associated functional alterations, enrich anatomical knowledge and become important by the time the affected individual may need a reconstructive procedure.

Se presenta un caso de agenesia de los músculos gastrocnemio medial y plantar izquierdos en un espécimen cadavérico masculino de 58 años, del laboratorio de anatomía de la Universidad Industrial de Santander (Bucaramanga- Colombia). Estas raras ausencias musculares enriquecen el conocimiento anatómico con sus alteraciones funcionales concomitantes y permiten postular los posibles procedimientos reconstructivos requeridos en los individuos que las presentan.

Functional MRI vs. navigated TMS to optimize M1 seed volume delineation for DTI tractography. A prospective study in patients with brain tumours adjacent to the corticospinal tract.

BACKGROUND: DTI-based tractography is an increasingly important tool for planning brain surgery in patients suffering from brain tumours. However, there is an ongoing debate which tracking approaches yield the most valid results. Especially the use of functional localizer data such as navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) seem to improve fibre tracking data in conditions where anatomical landmarks are less informative due to tumour-induced distortions of the gyral anatomy. We here compared which of the two localizer techniques yields more plausible results with respect to mapping different functional portions of the corticospinal tract (CST) in brain tumour patients. METHODS: The CSTs of 18 patients with intracranial tumours in the vicinity of the primary motor area (M1) were investigated by means of deterministic DTI. The core zone of the tumour-adjacent hand, foot and/or tongue M1 representation served as cortical regions of interest (ROIs). M1 core zones were defined by both the nTMS hot-spots and the fMRI local activation maxima. In addition, for all patients, a subcortical ROI at the level of the inferior anterior pons was implemented into the tracking algorithm in order to improve the anatomical specificity of CST reconstructions. As intra-individual control, we additionally tracked the CST of the hand motor region of the unaffected, i.e., non-lesional hemisphere, again comparing fMRI and nTMS M1 seeds. The plausibility of the fMRI-ROI- vs. nTMS-ROI-based fibre trajectories was assessed by a-priori defined anatomical criteria. Moreover, the anatomical relationship of different fibre courses was compared regarding their distribution in the anterior-posterior direction as well as their location within the posterior limb of the internal capsule (PLIC). RESULTS: Overall, higher plausibility rates were observed for the use of nTMS- as compared to fMRI-defined cortical ROIs (p < 0.05) in tumour vicinity. On the non-lesional hemisphere, however, equally good plausibility rates (100%) were observed for both localizer techniques. fMRI-originated fibres generally followed a more posterior course relative to the nTMS-based tracts (p < 0.01) in both the lesional and non-lesional hemisphere. CONCLUSION: NTMS achieved better tracking results than fMRI in conditions when the cortical tract origin (M1) was located in close vicinity to a brain tumour, probably influencing neurovascular coupling. Hence, especially in situations with altered BOLD signal physiology, nTMS seems to be the method of choice in order to identify seed regions for CST mapping in patients.

¿Músculo plantar? / Plantaris muscle?

Todos los campos científicos de la salud utilizan Terminologia Anatomica como herramienta de comunicación para las descripciones en artículos científicos impresos y electrónicos; las denominaciones anatómicas humanas son el punto de partida para ordenar todo idioma científico médico respetando sus raíces latinas y griegas; sin embargo, existen términos que se originaron por simbolismos, respetando ideografías y otros producto de la disección animal. Se revisará la denominación de músculo plantar (Musculus plantaris) al músculo ubicado en el compartimiento posterior de la pierna que consta en la Nomina Anatomica editada en Basilea en 1895 y en el texto Terminologia Anatomica publicada en 1998, documento oficial aceptado por la FIPAT; la semántica y las características descriptiva del término músculo plantar implican su ubicación en el pie pero su identidad morfológica demuestra una inconsistencia nominativa por presentar origen e inserción que corresponden a la pierna; se sugiere revisar su denominación de músculo plantar y considerar su cambio por músculo femorocalcáneo (Musculus femorocalcaneous).

All fields in the health sciences use anatomical terminology as a communication tool for the descriptions in print and electronic scientific articles; human anatomical names are the starting point for organizing all scientific medical language respecting their Latin and Greek roots. However, there are terms that originated by symbolism, respecting ideographs, the result of animal dissections. The name plantar muscle (musculus plantaris) will be reviewed as the muscle located in the posterior compartment of the leg as it appears in the Nomina Anatomica or BNA published in Basel in 1895 and Anatomical Terminology text published in 1998, an official document accepted by the FIPAT. Semantic and descriptive characteristics of the term imply the location plantaris muscle in the foot but its morphological identity shows inconsistency by presenting origin and insertion corresponding to the leg. A review of the name is suggested and that the change of plantar muscle to Femorocalcaneo (femorocalcaneous musculus) be considered.

Improved nTMS- and DTI-derived CST tractography through anatomical ROI seeding on anterior pontine level compared to internal capsule.

Imaging of the course of the corticospinal tract (CST) by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is useful for function-preserving tumour surgery. The integration of functional localizer data into tracking algorithms offers to establish a direct structure-function relationship in DTI data. However, alterations of MRI signals in and adjacent to brain tumours often lead to spurious tracking results. We here compared the impact of subcortical seed regions placed at different positions and the influences of the somatotopic location of the cortical seed and clinical co-factors on fibre tracking plausibility in brain tumour patients. The CST of 32 patients with intracranial tumours was investigated by means of deterministic DTI and neuronavigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS). The cortical seeds were defined by the nTMS hot spots of the primary motor area (M1) of the hand, the foot and the tongue representation. The CST originating from the contralesional M1 hand area was mapped as intra-individual reference. As subcortical region of interests (ROI), we used the posterior limb of the internal capsule (PLIC) and/or the anterior inferior pontine region (aiP). The plausibility of the fibre trajectories was assessed by a-priori defined anatomical criteria. The following potential co-factors were analysed: Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS), resting motor threshold (RMT), T1-CE tumour volume, T2 oedema volume, presence of oedema within the PLIC, the fractional anisotropy threshold (FAT) to elicit a minimum amount of fibres and the minimal fibre length. The results showed a higher proportion of plausible fibre tracts for the aiP-ROI compared to the PLIC-ROI. Low FAT values and the presence of peritumoural oedema within the PLIC led to less plausible fibre tracking results. Most plausible results were obtained when the FAT ranged above a cut-off of 0.105. In addition, there was a strong effect of somatotopic location of the seed ROI; best plausibility was obtained for the contralateral hand CST (100%), followed by the ipsilesional hand CST (>95%), the ipsilesional foot (>85%) and tongue (>75%) CST. In summary, we found that the aiP-ROI yielded better tracking results compared to the IC-ROI when using deterministic CST tractography in brain tumour patients, especially when the M1 hand area was tracked. In case of FAT values lower than 0.10, the result of the respective CST tractography should be interpreted with caution with respect to spurious tracking results. Moreover, the presence of oedema within the internal capsule should be considered a negative predictor for plausible CST tracking.

Músculo Plantar en Individuos Brasileños / Plantaris Muscle in Brazilian Individuals

El objetivo del trabajo fue obtener información más detallada sobre el músculo plantar, que permita mayor comprensión sobre su presencia, morfología, inserción, trayecto de su tendón y la extensión del vientre muscular y del tendón, facilitando su retirada para utilizarlo en injertos. Fueron realizadas disecciones de 60 miembros inferiores de cadáveres adultos fijados en formaldehído al 10 por ciento. El músculo plantar estuvo presente en 57/60 casos (95 por ciento). La forma de huso del músculo fue encontrada en 100 por ciento de los casos. La longitud del vientre muscular varió entre 7,0 cm y 13,7 cm. La extensión del tendón varió entre 25,5 y 40,0 cm. El trayecto del tendón fue oblicuo en 82,46 por ciento, entre los músculos sóleo y gastrocnemio, ubicándose en el resto del trayecto medialmente al tendón calcáneo. En 17,54 por ciento de los casos el tendón del músculo plantar, tras cruzar entre los músculos gastrocnemio y sóleo, se separó de éstos para seguir anterior al tendón calcáneo. El tendón se insertó en el 79 por ciento en la cara medial del tendón calcáneo. En el 21 por ciento de los casos, la inserción se realizó en diversos sitios como: cara anterior del tendón calcáneo; retináculo de los extensores o de los músculos flexores; en el calcáneo; en el músculo sóleo y en la cápsula de la articulación talocrural.

The aim of this study was to obtain more detailed information on the plantar muscle, which may provide a greater understanding of their presence, their morphology, their distal insertion, the path of its tendon, and the extent of the muscle and tendon, facilitating its removal for use in grafts. We performed 60 dissections of the lower limbs of adult cadavers in formaldehyde 10 percent. The plantar muscle was present in 57/60 of the cases (95 percent). In the 100 percent of the cases the muscle has a fusiform shape. The length of the muscle ranged from 7.0 cm to 13.7 cm. The length of the tendon ranged between 25.5 cm to 40 cm. The trajectory of the tendon was oblique in 82.46 percent between the medial gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, located in the remainder of its trajectory, medially to the calcaneous tendon. In 17.54 percent of the remaining cases the plantar tendon, after passing between the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, it separated to move in the direction of the anterior calcaneal tendon. The muscle had its distal insertion in 79 percent on the medial calcaneal tendon. In 21 percent remaining cases, the insertion was in various locations such as on the soleus muscle, the flexor retinaculum and joint capsule of ankle joint.