This theoretical study establishes a quantitative mathematical relationship between individual sarcomere force-length properties and overall myofibril mechanics.
Extends sarcomere modeling with conditions for myofibril continuity; leaves open translation to cardiac mechanics.
Sarcomeres are building blocks of skeletal muscles. Given force-length relations of sarcomeres serially connected in a myofibril, the myofibril force-length relation can be uniquely determined. Necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for capability of fully lengthening or completely shortening a myofibril under isometric, eccentric or concentric contraction, and for the myofibril force-length relation to be a continuous single-valued function. Intriguing phenomena such as sarcomere force-length hysteresis and myofibril regularity are investigated and their important roles in determining myofibril force-length relations are explored. The theoretical analysis leads to experimentally verifiable predictions on myofibril force-length relations. For illustration, simulated force-length relations of a myofibril portion consisting of a sarcomere pair are presented.
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M. Hou (2018) studied this question.
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