A fluid-driven soft robotic fish inspired by fish muscle architecture

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sijia Liu ◽  
Yingjie Wang ◽  
Zhennan Li ◽  
Miao Jin ◽  
Lei Ren ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Connective Tissue ◽  
Structural Design ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
The Body ◽  
Optimum Frequency ◽  
Muscle System ◽  
Key Innovation ◽  
Biological Studies ◽  
Passive Deformation ◽  
Red Muscle

Abstract Artificial fish-like robots developed to date often focus on the external morphology of fish and have rarely addressed the contribution of the structure and morphology of biological muscle. However, biological studies have proven that fish utilize the contraction of muscle fibers to drive the protective flexible connective tissue to swim. This paper introduces a pneumatic silicone structure prototype inspired by the red muscle system of fish and applies it to the fish-like robot named Flexi-Tuna. The key innovation is to make the fluid-driven units simulate the red muscle fiber bundles of fish and embed them into a flexible tuna-like matrix. The driving units act as muscle fibers to generate active contraction force, and the flexible matrix as connective tissue to generate passive deformation. Applying alternant pressure to the driving units can produce a bending moment, causing the tail to swing. As a result, the structural design of Flexi-Tuna has excellent bearing capacity compared with the traditional cavity-type and keeps the body smooth. On this basis, a general method is proposed for modeling the fish-like robot based on the independent analysis of the active and passive body, providing a foundation for Flexi-Tuna’s size design. Followed by the robot’s static and underwater dynamic tests, we used finite element static analysis and fluid numerical simulation to compare the results. The experimental results showed that the maximum swing angle of the tuna-like robot reached 20°, and the maximum thrust reached 0.185 N at the optimum frequency of 3.5 Hz. In this study, we designed a unique system that matches the functional level of biological muscles. As a result, we realized the application of fluid-driven artificial muscle to bionic fish and expanded new ideas for the structural design of flexible bionic fish.

scholarly journals LATENT LIFE OF ARTERIES

1910 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 460-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Carrel
Keyword(s):  
Connective Tissue ◽  
Cold Storage ◽  
Freezing Point ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
The Body ◽  
Normal Appearance ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Positive Results ◽  
Actual Life

When a segment of artery, killed by heat, formalin or glycerin is transplanted, it undergoes a rapid degeneration. Its muscle fibers disappear while the tissue of the host reacts by building a new wall of connective tissue. When the transplanted vessel has been preserved in a condition of latent life, no degeneration of the wall occurs, or the wall undergoes only partial degeneration. The muscle fibers can keep their normal appearance, even for a long time after the operation. It is, therefore, demonstrated that arteries can be preserved outside of the body in a condition of unmanifested actual life. The best method of preservation consists of placing the vessels, immersed in vaselin, in an ice box, the temperature of which is slightly above the freezing point. From a surgical standpoint, the transplantation of preserved vessels can be used with some safety. When the arteries were kept in defibrinated blood or vaselin and in cold storage, the proportion of positive results was 75 and 80 per cent., and this can probably be increased.

Current Scientific Considerations in Regard to Defining a “Silicone Syndrome”/Disease and the Formation of Silica from Silicone

1998 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Todhunter ◽  
Michael G. Farrow
Keyword(s):  
Connective Tissue ◽  
Patient Population ◽  
Breast Implant ◽  
Connective Tissue Diseases ◽  
The Body ◽  
Silicone Implants ◽  
Augmentation Mammoplasty ◽  
Patient Case ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Epidemiology Studies

Whether the constellation of various symptoms reported in various case-study reports on some patients who have had augmentation mammoplasty with silicone implants reflects a distinct, novel “silicone syndrome”or disease is important to settingproper endpoints for the epidemiological study of this patient population. To date, epidemiology studies on breast implant patients have focused on end-points which are typical of connective tissue disease, rheumatoid disease, and/ or autoimmune disorders. The consensus at this time, as was recently stated in a paper authored by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) personnel, is that the weight of the evidence from existing epidemiology studies is that silicone breast implants do not appreciably, if at all, increase the risk of these types of diseases. Critics of the epidemiology database have countered that had the analysis of association in these studies been done for a “silicone syndrome,” as opposed to the disease types which were analyzed, an association between silicone breast implantation and increased risk of “silicone syndrome” would have been observed. In the present analysis, this question is approached from two directions: First, the available single or multi-patient case reports available in the open literature were evaluated. The objective was to define those symptoms/ complaints that were reported in all studies or in at least 50% of the patients reported and to assign frequency distributions to individual symptoms or complaints reported in breast implant patients presenting for various complaints. By definition, if a “silicone syndrome” exists, then it can only be characterized by those symptoms or complaints which appear with regular frequency in patients so afflicted. Second, the symptoms or complaints which were used as criteria in the existing epidemiology studies were correlated with their frequency of occurrence among single or multi-patient case-reported breast implant patients. The working hypothesis in this present study is that if the number of “silicone syndrome” symptoms or complaints that also are symptoms of the existing epidemiology endpoints is large, then a distinct “silicone syndrome” is not likely to exist, and it can be concluded that existing epidemiology studies have adequately addressed the relevant issues. Also, to the extent that the frequency of symptom occurrence in “silicone syndrome” is similar to the distribution seen for known connective tissue, rheumatoid, and/ or autoimmune diseases, this will then add to the weight of evidence that no distinct “silicone syndrome” needs be postulated. Conversely, if a different set of symptoms or complaints occurs in silicone breast-implanted patients than is seen in patients with connective tissue diseases, this will argue that a distinct syndrome may exist. In the present study, the more recent suggestion that silicone may be broken down to silica in the body, and evidence for and against this suggestion are also discussed. The present analysis does not support the contention that a distinct “silicone syndrome” exists, but does support the contention that the disease endpoints used in existing epidemiology studies are adequate for examining the patient population. Also, consideration of the chemistry of silicone and its potential hydrolysis or oxidative cleavage indicates that if such reactions occur in the body at any significant rate, the product will be silicic acid, a normal and necessary constituent of the body, and not silica (i.e., silicon dioxide).

Metabolic biochemistry of water- vs. air-breathing fishes: muscle enzymes and ultrastructure

1978 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 736-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. W. Hochachka ◽  
M. Guppy ◽  
H. E. Guderley ◽  
K. B. Storey ◽  
W. C. Hulbert
Keyword(s):  
White Muscle ◽  
Large Diameter ◽  
Oxidative Capacity ◽  
The Body ◽  
Muscle Enzymes ◽  
Air Breathing ◽  
Red Muscle ◽  
Phosphofructokinase Activity ◽  
Metabolic Biochemistry ◽  
Myotomal Muscle

To delineate what modifications in muscle metabolic biochemistry correlate with transition to air breathing in fishes, the myotomal muscles of aruana, an obligate water breather, and Arapaima, a related obligate air breather, were compared using electron microscopy and enzyme methods. White muscle in both species maintained a rather similar ultrastructure, characterized by large-diameter fibers, very few mitochondria, and few capillaries. However, aruana white muscle displayed nearly fivefold higher levels of pyruvate kinase, threefold higher levels of muscle-type lactate dehydrogenase, and a fourfold higher ratio of fructose diphosphatase –phosphofructokinase activity; at the same time, enzymes in aerobic metabolism occurred at about one-half the levels in Arapaima. Red muscle was never found in the myotomal mass of aruana, but in Arapaima, red muscle was present and seemed fueled by glycogen, lipid droplets never being observed. From these and other data, it was concluded that in myotomal muscle two processes correlate with the transition to air breathing in Amazon osteoglossids: firstly, an emphasis in oxidative metabolism, and secondly, a retention of red muscle. However, compared with more active water-breathing species, Arapaima sustains an overall dampening of enzyme activities in its myotomal muscle, which because of the large myotome mass explains why its overall metabolic rate is relatively low. By keeping the oxidative capacity of its myotomal muscle low, Arapaima automatically conserves O2 either for a longer time or for other more O2-requiring organs in the body, a perfectly understandable strategy for an air-breathing, diving fish, comparable with that observed in other diving vertebrates. A similar comparison was also made of two erythrinid fishes, one that skimmed the O2-rich surface layers of water and one that obtained three quarters of its O2 from water, one quarter from air. Ultrastructural and enzyme data led to the unexpected conclusion that the surface skimmer sustained a higher oxidative capacity in its myotomal muscles than did the facultative air breather.

Quantitative succinate dehydrogenase analysis in normal and ragged-red muscle fibers

1991 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Reichmann ◽  
D. Wildenauer
Keyword(s):  
Succinate Dehydrogenase ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Red Muscle

Muscle dynamics in skipjack tuna: timing of red muscle shortening in relation to activation and body curvature during steady swimming

1999 ◽  
Vol 202 (16) ◽  
pp. 2139-2150 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.E. Shadwick ◽  
S.L. Katz ◽  
K.E. Korsmeyer ◽  
T. Knower ◽  
J.W. Covell
Keyword(s):  
Fork Length ◽  
Muscle Length ◽  
The Body ◽  
Emg Activity ◽  
Skipjack Tuna ◽  
Force Transmission ◽  
Muscle Strain ◽  
Muscle Shortening ◽  
Red Muscle ◽  
Length Changes

Cyclic length changes in the internal red muscle of skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) were measured using sonomicrometry while the fish swam in a water tunnel at steady speeds of 1.1-2.3 L s(−)(1), where L is fork length. These data were coupled with simultaneous electromyographic (EMG) recordings. The onset of EMG activity occurred at virtually the same phase of the strain cycle for muscle at axial locations between approximately 0.4L and 0.74L, where the majority of the internal red muscle is located. Furthermore, EMG activity always began during muscle lengthening, 40–50 prior to peak length, suggesting that force enhancement by stretching and net positive work probably occur in red muscle all along the body. Our results support the idea that positive contractile power is derived from all the aerobic swimming muscle in tunas, while force transmission is provided primarily by connective tissue structures, such as skin and tendons, rather than by muscles performing negative work. We also compared measured muscle length changes with midline curvature (as a potential index of muscle strain) calculated from synchronised video image analysis. Unlike contraction of the superficial red muscle in other fish, the shortening of internal red muscle in skipjack tuna substantially lags behind changes in the local midline curvature. The temporal separation of red muscle shortening and local curvature is so pronounced that, in the mid-body region, muscle shortening at each location is synchronous with midline curvature at locations that are 7–8 cm (i.e. 8–10 vertebral segments) more posterior. These results suggest that contraction of the internal red muscle causes deformation of the body at more posterior locations, rather than locally. This situation represents a unique departure from the model of a homogeneous bending beam, which describes red muscle strain in other fish during steady swimming, but is consistent with the idea that tunas produce thrust by motion of the caudal fin rather than by undulation of segments along the body.

Red muscle activation patterns in yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) and skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) tunas during steady swimming

1999 ◽  
Vol 202 (16) ◽  
pp. 2127-2138 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Knower ◽  
R.E. Shadwick ◽  
S.L. Katz ◽  
J.B. Graham ◽  
C.S. Wardle
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Fork Length ◽  
Force Transducer ◽  
The Body ◽  
Thunnus Albacares ◽  
Katsuwonus Pelamis ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Muscle Activation Patterns ◽  
Red Muscle ◽  
Swimming Mode

To learn about muscle function in two species of tuna (yellowfin Thunnus albacares and skipjack Katsuwonus pelamis), a series of electromyogram (EMG) electrodes was implanted down the length of the body in the internal red (aerobic) muscle. Additionally, a buckle force transducer was fitted around the deep caudal tendons on the same side of the peduncle as the electrodes. Recordings of muscle activity and caudal tendon forces were made while the fish swam over a range of steady, sustainable cruising speeds in a large water tunnel treadmill. In both species, the onset of red muscle activation proceeds sequentially in a rostro-caudal direction, while the offset (or deactivation) is nearly simultaneous at all sites, so that EMG burst duration decreases towards the tail. Muscle duty cycle at each location remains a constant proportion of the tailbeat period (T), independent of swimming speed, and peak force is registered in the tail tendons just as all ipsilateral muscle deactivates. Mean duty cycles in skipjack are longer than those in yellowfin. In yellowfin red muscle, there is complete segregation of contralateral activity, while in skipjack there is slight overlap. In both species, all internal red muscle on one side is active simultaneously for part of each cycle, lasting 0.18T in yellowfin and 0.11T in skipjack. (Across the distance encompassing the majority of the red muscle mass, 0.35-0.65L, where L is fork length, the duration is 0.25T in both species.) When red muscle activation patterns were compared across a variety of fish species, it became apparent that the EMG patterns grade in a progression that parallels the kinematic spectrum of swimming modes from anguilliform to thunniform. The tuna EMG pattern, underlying the thunniform swimming mode, culminates this progression, exhibiting an activation pattern at the extreme opposite end of the spectrum from the anguilliform mode.

Chronicle

1934 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-370
Keyword(s):  
Connective Tissue ◽  
The Body ◽  
Protective Reaction ◽  
Fight Against Cancer

The fight against cancer that has already appeared in the body should be aimed not only at destroying the tumor itself, but also at strengthening the protective reaction of the connective tissue.

Water-tunnel studies of heat balance in swimming mako sharks

2001 ◽  
Vol 204 (23) ◽  
pp. 4043-4054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Bernal ◽  
Chugey Sepulveda ◽  
Jeffrey B. Graham
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Balance ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
The Body ◽  
Morphological Properties ◽  
Water Tunnel ◽  
Vascular Networks ◽  
Red Muscle ◽  
Counter Current ◽  
New Evidence

SUMMARY The mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) has specialized vascular networks (retia mirabilia) forming counter-current heat exchangers that allow metabolic heat retention in certain regions of the body, including the aerobic, locomotor red muscle and the viscera. Red muscle, white muscle and stomach temperatures were measured in juvenile (5–13.6 kg) makos swimming steadily in a water tunnel and exposed to stepwise square-wave changes in ambient temperature (Ta) to estimate the rates of heat transfer and to determine their capacity for the activity-independent control of heat balance. The rates of heat gain of red muscle during warming were significantly higher than the rates of heat loss during cooling, and neither the magnitude of the change in Ta nor the direction of change in Ta had a significant effect on red muscle latency time. Our findings for mako red muscle are similar to those recorded for tunas and suggest modulation of retial heat-exchange efficiency as the underlying mechanism controlling heat balance. However, the red muscle temperatures measured in swimming makos (0.3–3°C above Ta) are cooler than those measured previously in larger decked makos. Also, the finding of non-stable stomach temperatures contrasts with the predicted independence from Ta recorded in telemetry studies of mako and white sharks. Our studies on live makos provide new evidence that, in addition to the unique convergent morphological properties between makos and tunas, there is a strong functional similarity in the mechanisms used to regulate heat transfer.

HISTOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF 3-TRIFLUORMETHYL-4-NITROPHENOL (TFM) ON LARVAL LAMPREY AND TROUT

1963 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald M. Christie ◽  
Helen I. Battle
Keyword(s):  
Connective Tissue ◽  
Prolonged Exposure ◽  
Periodic Acid ◽  
Secretory Activity ◽  
The Body ◽  
Salmo Gairdneri ◽  
Periodic Acid Schiff ◽  
Sinusoidal Dilatation ◽  
Gill Filaments ◽  
Red Coloration

Larvae of the lamprey, Entosphenus lamottei (Le Sueur), and rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri Richardson, were exposed to the sodium salt of 3-trifluormethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) in concentrations of 0.75 p.p.m., 3.00 p.p.m., and 6.00 p.p.m. Microscopic examination of changes induced in the gills, liver, cloacal region, and musculature were made on 7-micron sections stained with Harris' haematoxylin and Bowie's eosin, and in the gill region with periodic acid Schiff reagent. A comparison of the degree of the effects in the two species was made by planimetry of the vascular, cellular, and edematous areas from enlarged drawings of sections.Upon exposure to lethal concentrations of TFM, the body of the larval lamprey becomes distended at the pharyngeal level and heavy cords of mucus emerge from the external gill clefts. A deep red coloration is evident in the pharyngeal region consequent upon vasodilatation of the arterioles and capillaries of the gill filaments. Trout exhibit a similar vasodilatation of the gills together with increased mucous secretion. Edema in the connective tissue between the respiratory epithelium and the vascular endothelium is induced in both species. After prolonged exposure to TFM, the mucous cells in the lining of the branchial chamber and covering the tips of the gill filaments are actively discharging their secretions or completely spent.Certain effects induced by TFM in the larval lamprey are not evident in the trout. The cloacal region takes on a deep red coloration due to dilatation of the venous sinuses and the liver becomes reddish because of sinusoidal dilatation. Extensive edema of the fibrous connective tissue of the skeletal musculature is characteristically present. A slightly increased secretory activity of mucous-secreting cells may occur in the epidermis.With the techniques employed in this study, there was no evidence in either species of cytological or histological changes in the nervous tissue, cardiac musculature, notochord, alimentary canal (including the haemopoietic typhlosole of the lamprey), or mesonephros.

scholarly journals Myositis in mixed connective tissue disease: a unique syndrome characterized by immunohistopathologic elements of both polymyositis and dermatomyositis

2004 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 923-934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Angela A.G. Vianna ◽  
Claudia T.L. Borges ◽  
Eduardo F. Borba ◽  
Maria Teresa C. Caleiro ◽  
Eloisa Bonfá ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Connective Tissue ◽  
Connective Tissue Disease ◽  
Mixed Connective Tissue Disease ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Membrane Attack Complex ◽  
Inflammatory Cells ◽  
Vascular Involvement ◽  
Mhc I ◽  
Immune Mediated ◽  
Cellular Immune

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the inflammatory cells, the expression pattern of adhesion molecules (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1), membrane attack complex (C5b-9), and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens in muscle biopsy of mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD). METHOD: We studied 14 patients with MCTD, and compared to 8 polimyositis (PM) patients, 5 dermatomyositis (DM) and 4 dystrophies. Inflammatory cells were examined for CD4+, CD8+, memory and naïve T cells, natural killer cells, and macrophages. Expression of MHC-I and -II, ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and C5b -9 were characterized on muscle fibers and vessels. RESULTS: Morphological analysis displayed a pattern of PM. Immunohistochemical study revealed a decreased number of capillaries, predominance of CD4+ and B cells in perivascular regions and predominance of CD8+ and CD45RO+ in endomysial regions. The expression of MHC-I on vessels and on degenerated muscle fibers, MHC-II expression on vessels and perifascicular muscle fibers, and the expression of ICAM-1 / VCAM-1 on endothelial cells indicated both vascular and cellular-immune mediated processes causing the muscular lesion. CONCLUSION:Our findings revealed a mixed mechanism in MCTD, both vascular involvement as DM, and cell-mediated like PM.

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