In Vivo Functional Assessment of Rat Masseter Muscle Following Surgical Creation of a Volumetric Muscle Loss (VML) InjurySydney B. Shriver 1, Ramzi J. Khairallah 2, George J. Christ 1,3
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, 2Myologica LLC, 3Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Virginia
Volumetric muscle loss (VML) injuries exceed endogenous regenerative ability, resulting in permanent functional deficits. Current VML research primarily focuses on limb and trunk muscles. To extend mechanistic studies of VML to craniofacial muscles, this article describes an in vivo method for longitudinal assessment of masseter muscle function pre- and post-VML injury.
