Micro-biopsies: a less invasive technique for investigating human muscle fiber mechanics

The purpose of this investigation was to demonstrate that muscle fiber mechanics can be assessed on micro-biopsies obtained from human medial gastrocnemii. Three micro-biopsy samples were collected from female dancers (n=15). Single fibers and fiber bundles were isolated and passively stretched from 2.4 to 3.0 µm at 0.015 and 0.04 µm s⁻¹ (n=50 fibers total) and in five increments at 0.12 µm s⁻¹ (n=42 fibers total). Muscle fibers were then activated isometrically at 2.4 µm (n=4 fibers total) and 3.0 µm (n=3 fibers total). Peak stress and steady-state stress were significantly greater (P<0.0001) after stretching at 0.04 µm s⁻¹ than at 0.015 µm s⁻¹. Furthermore, peak stresses and steady-state stresses increased non-linearly with fiber length (P<0.0001). We conclude that active and passive muscle fiber mechanics can be investigated using tissue from micro-biopsies.