Smooth Muscle Tissue Response to Applied Vibration Following Extreme Isotonic Shortening

Abstract

The objectives of the present study are to investigate the response of a tracheal smooth muscle tissue to an applied longitudinal vibration following isotonic shortening, and, using experimental data, to simulate the mechanical response through a non-linear finite element analysis. The response of an activated smooth muscle tissue to forced length oscillations at 33Hz for 1 second was obtained. The response in terms of stiffness change and hysteresis was estimated from the experimental data. A finite element simulation was carried out to simulate the vibratory response under experimental conditions. The results obtained indicate that the approach and the vibratory response obtained may be useful for describing the cross-bridge deattachements within the cells as well as connective tissue connections characteristics of tracheal smooth muscle tissue.