Delphine Pri1,2, Renaud Grenier1,
Guillaume Gilbert3, Gilles Beaudoin4
1Mechanical Engineering,
Ecole Polytechnique de Montral, Montral, Qubec, Canada; 2Research
Center, CHU Sainte-Justine, Montral, Qubec, Canada; 3Philips
Healthcare, Montral, Qubec, Canada; 4Physics & Biomedical
Engineering, CHUM Notre Dame, Montral, Qubec, Canada
It is well established that MR parameters obtained by quantitative MRI (qMRI) are linked to the mechanical properties and biochemical composition of cartilages. We hypothesise that a relationship exists between mechanical properties and MR parameters of muscles. A qMRI acquisition and a tensile test were performed on adult rabbit muscles, in a state of rigor or post-rigor mortis. The tension variation between rigor mortis and post-rigor mortis comes from the degradation of myosin and actin. The results indicate that the muscle Youngs modulus, i.e. the passive mechanical behaviour, can be evaluated indirectly from qMRI using magnetization transfer and diffusion tensor acquisitions.