Effect of Freeze Thaw Cycles on Elbow Mobility in a Long Evans Rat
Abstract
Throughout the 2022 Fall semester I worked in Dr. Lake’s musculoskeletal soft tissue lab on the Post Traumatic Joint Contracture(PTJC) project. Previous work on this project used a rat model of the elbow to explore different factors affecting this disease and potential treatments. There are many different tests used to quantify the rats progress through this condition. One is range of motion testing. The typical procedure for this project is to sacrifice the animals and then freeze them before performing range of motion testing. This project tested the animals range of motion immediately after sacrifice and then again after the elbow had been frozen to test whether there would be a change in the range of motion(flexion-extension). It was found that the extension angle slowly increased between the fresh test and each freeze thaw cycle. There was a lot of fluctuation seen between the total range of motion for each cycle, but further experimentation would be needed to find a concrete relationship.
Document Type
Final Report
Class Name
Mechanical Engineering and Material Sciences Independent Study
Date of Submission
12-26-2022
Recommended Citation
Miller, Sophia, "Effect of Freeze Thaw Cycles on Elbow Mobility in a Long Evans Rat" (2022). Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study. 233.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mems500/233