{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T01:57:44Z","timestamp":1790906264725,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"The Company of Biologists","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,1]],"date-time":"2024-03-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1709251200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/www.biologists.com\/user-licence-1-1\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["AR055295"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AR055295"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:p>The operating length of a muscle is a key determinant of its ability to produce force in vivo. Muscles that operate near the peak of their force\u2013length relationship will generate higher forces whereas muscle operating at relatively short length may be safe from sudden lengthening perturbations and subsequent damage. At longer lengths, passive mechanical properties have the potential to contribute to force or constrain operating length with stiffer muscle\u2013tendon units theoretically being restricted to shorter lengths. Connective tissues typically increase in density during aging, thus increasing passive muscle stiffness and potentially limiting the operating lengths of muscle during locomotion. Here, we compare in vivo and in situ muscle strain from the medial gastrocnemius in young (7\u2005months old) and aged (30\u201332\u2005months old) rats presumed to have varying passive tissue stiffness to test the hypothesis that stiffer muscles operate at shorter lengths relative to their force\u2013length relationship. We measured in vivo muscle operating length during voluntary locomotion on inclines and flat trackways and characterized the muscle force\u2013length relationship of the medial gastrocnemius using fluoromicrometry. Although no age-related results were evident, rats of both age groups demonstrated a clear relationship between passive stiffness and in vivo operating length, such that shorter operating lengths were significantly correlated with greater passive stiffness. Our results suggest that increased passive stiffness may restrict muscles to operating lengths shorter than optimal lengths, potentially limiting force capacity during locomotion.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1242\/jeb.246280","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,14]],"date-time":"2024-02-14T11:35:42Z","timestamp":1707910542000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["The interaction of <i>in vivo<\/i> muscle operating lengths and passive stiffness in rat hindlimbs"],"prefix":"10.1242","volume":"227","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5339-227X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Angela M.","family":"Horner","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, California State University 1 , San Bernardino , CA 92407, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emanuel","family":"Azizi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Biological Sciences, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California 2 , Irvine , CA 92697, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6345-9324","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thomas J.","family":"Roberts","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Biology and Medicine, Brown University 3 , Providence, RI 02912 , USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"237","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"2024031111010774400_JEB246280C1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"877","DOI":"10.1113\/jphysiol.2002.038018","article-title":"In vivo and in vitro heterogeneity of segment length changes in the semimembranosus muscle of the toad","volume":"549","author":"Ahn","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. 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