Hamstring contractures in children with spastic cerebral palsy result from a stiffer extracellular matrix and increased in vivo sarcomere length
2011; Wiley; Volume: 589; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1113/jphysiol.2010.203364
ISSN1469-7793
AutoresLucas Smith, Ki S. Lee, Samuel R. Ward, Henry G. Chambers, Richard L. Lieber,
Tópico(s)Botulinum Toxin and Related Neurological Disorders
ResumoNon‐technical summary Muscle spasticity, due to an upper motoneuron lesion, often leads to muscle contractures that limit range of motion and cause increased muscle stiffness. However, the elements responsible for this muscle adaption are unknown. Here we show that muscle tissue is stiffer in contracture compared to age‐matched children, implicating the extracellular matrix (ECM). However, titin, the major load‐bearing protein within muscle fibres, is not altered in contracture, and individual fibre stiffness is unaltered. Increased ECM stiffness is even more functionally significant given our finding of long in vivo sarcomeres which leads to much larger in vivo forces in muscle contracture. These results may lead to novel therapeutics for treating spastic muscle contracture.
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