Collagen fibers within skeletal muscle extracellular matrix dynamically change their alignment in a stretch-dependent fashion

Abstract

Collagen fiber architecture within the skeletal muscle extracellular matrix (ECM) contributes to muscle passive mechanical properties. There is evidence that collagen fibers change their alignment during muscle lengthening (stretching). Thus, the goal of this study was to characterize the dynamic changes of collagen fiber alignment in the muscle ECM during muscle stretching, and to assess the relationship between dynamic collagen re-alignment and muscle passive mechanics. We hypothesized that collagen fibers increase their alignment as the muscle is stretched, and that increased collagen alignment in stretched muscle is correlated to higher elastic stiffness. Extensor digitorum longus (EDL), soleus, and diaphragm muscles were collected from wildtype (WT) and D2.mdx (MDX) mice of 48-52 weeks of age. Muscles underwent a series of twitches to determine the optimum length (Lo) for isometric contraction, and then were decellularized to isolate the muscle ECM. Decellularized muscles (DCMs) were then mechanically tested using a series of stress-relaxation tests at 5% increments from 85% to 115% length relative to Lo. Elastic stiffness was measured as the slope of the tangent line on the stress-strain curve following stress-relaxation. Following mechanical testing, DCMs were imaged using second harmonic generation microscopy to visualize collagen alignment across the range of lengths used in mechanical testing. Collagen alignment was reported as an alignment index on a scale of 0 (perfect unalignment) to 1 (perfect alignment). We found that MDX diaphragm DCMs were less stiff than WT (WT: 910.2±586.7, MDX: 238±168.7, p=0.0041), but there were no significant differences in stiffness between WT and MDX EDL and soleus DCMs. We also observed a significant effect of stretch on collagen alignment in all DCMs tested (Diaphragm: p=0.0071, EDL: p=0.0004, soleus: p<0.0001). Interestingly, the collagen fibers of the epimysium, the outermost layer of the muscle ECM, were more aligned in WT diaphragm DCMs than in MDX (WT 85%: 0.672±.14, MDX 85%: 0.344±0.16, p=0.0027; WT 115%: 0.783±0.04, MDX 115%: 0.480±0.19, p=0.0036). Finally, we found a significant positive correlation between the alignment and elastic stiffness at 110% Lo across all DCMs (p=0.0038, R2=0.1713). These data indicate that collagen fibers dynamically re-align as muscle is stretched. Additionally, increased collagen fiber alignment is associated with higher passive stiffness in the decellularized muscle ECM. Overall, we find that dynamic architectural changes in the muscle ECM contribute to passive mechanical behavior during a muscle stretch. This work was supported by a grant from the NIH NIAMS (R01-AR079545). This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.