Chronic exposure to stretch–shortening contractions results in skeletal muscle adaptation in young rats and maladaptation in old rats

The objective of this research was to investigate skeletal muscle response to a chronic administration of stretch–shortening cycles (SSCs) in young and old rats. Dorsiflexor muscles of old (30 months, n = 5) and young (12 weeks, n = 6) rats were exposed 3 times/week for 4.5 weeks to a protocol of 80 maximal SSCs per exposure in vivo. Skeletal muscle response was characterized by isometric and dynamic performance, as well as by muscle wet mass and quantitative morphological analyses following the exposure period. The performance of the young and old groups was not statistically different at the start of the exposure. By the end of the exposure, however, a statistical difference was noted, as performance increased significantly in the young animals and decreased significantly in the old animals. Muscle wet mass of the left tibialis anterior (TA) in the treated limb was significantly greater in the youngthan in the old animals (p < 0.001), whereas there was no difference in the contra-lateral TA. No degenera...