New publication online: Spindle Model Responsive to Mixed Fusimotor Inputs: an updated version of the Maltenfort and Burke (2003) model

February 1, 2022

Our latest publication is a contribution to model reproducibility: Spindle Model Responsive to Mixed Fusimotor Inputs: an updated version of the Maltenfort and Burke (2003) model. Laura Schmid; Thomas Klotz; Utku Yavuz; Mitchell Maltenfort; Oliver Röhrle. https://doi.org/10.36903/physiome.19070171

When working with mathematical models a common issue is that model results cannot be reproduced with the information given in the paper. The recently founded Physiome journal aims to address this issue in the field of physiological modelling. Physiome publications accompany a peer-reviewed article and contain the model code and detailed instructions on how to run it. 

With our publication 'Spindle Model Responsive to Mixed Fusimotor Inputs: an updated version of the Maltenfort and Burke (2003) model', we present an updated and usable version of the muscle spindle model originally published by Maltenfort and Burke in 2003. Muscle spindles are mechanosensors located in skeletal muscle and providing the central nervous system with important information on the length and contraction speed of the respective muscle. The muscle spindle model by Maltenfort and Burke predicts muscle spindle primary activity over a large range of physiological conditions while demanding little computational resources. Within the new publication, we provide the model implementations in Matlab and CellML, which are now capable of replicating the originally published data. Therefore, a part of the equations was modified with respect to what was originally published.  

Beyond facilitating the integration of muscle spindle models in future models of the neuromuscular system, this article contributes to making models of physiological systems available and reproducible.

We thank our collaborators from TU Twente and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. 

 

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