Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Slowly Cycling Rho Kinase-Dependent Actomyosin Cross-Bridge "Slippage" Explains Intrinsic High Compliance Of Detrusor Smooth Muscle, Christopher J. Neal, Jia B. Lin, Tanner Hurley, Amy S. Miner, John E. Speich, Adam P. Klausner, Paul H. Ratz

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Publications

Biological soft tissues are viscoelastic because they display timeindependent pseudoelasticity and time-dependent viscosity. However, there is evidence that the bladder may also display plasticity, defined as an increase in strain that is unrecoverable unless work is done by the muscle. In the present study, an electronic lever was used to induce controlled changes in stress and strain to determine whether rabbit detrusor smooth muscle (rDSM) is best described as viscoelastic or viscoelastic plastic. Using sequential ramp loading and unloading cycles, stress-strain and stiffness-stress analyses revealed that rDSM displayed reversible viscoelasticity, and that the viscous component was responsible for establishing a …