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Daily jaw muscle activity in freely moving rats measured with radio‐telemetry
Author(s) -
Kawai Nobuhiko,
Tanaka Eiji,
Langenbach Geerling E. J.,
Van Wessel Tim,
Brugman Peter,
Sano Ryota,
Van Eijden Theo M. G. J.,
Tanne Kazuo
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
european journal of oral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.802
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1600-0722
pISSN - 0909-8836
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0722.2007.00424.x
Subject(s) - digastric muscle , masseter muscle , medicine , isometric exercise , telemetry , anatomy , endocrinology , engineering , aerospace engineering
The jaw muscle activity of rats has been investigated for specific tasks. However, the daily jaw muscle use remains unclear. The purpose of the present study was to examine daily jaw muscle activity, and its variability over time, in the rat ( n = 12) by the use of radio‐telemetry. A telemetric device was implanted for the continuous recording of masseter muscle and digastric muscle activity. Daily muscle use was characterized by calculating the total time that each muscle was active (duty time), the number of bursts, and the average length of bursts. All parameters were estimated for activities exceeding various levels (5–90%) of the day's peak activity. Daily muscle use remained constant for 4 wk. At the low‐activity level, the duty time and burst number of the digastric muscle were significantly ( P < 0.01) higher than those of the masseter muscle, whereas the opposite was true at the high‐activity level ( P < 0.05). No significant intermuscular correlation was observed between the number of bursts of the masseter and digastric muscles, but the interindividual variation of both muscles changed, depending on the level of activation. These findings suggest that the masseter muscle and the digastric muscle show a differential active pattern, depending on the activity level.