The thickness and collagen content of tendon relative to the strength and cross-sectional area of muscle

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Abstract
The orientation of fibrous tissue in tendon suggests a mechanical influence upon the growth of collagen, but in adult rabbits no strict correlation was found between the thickness of certain tendons and the strength of their muscles. The maximum tension transmitted by the collagen in tendons of three fusiform muscles was over fifty percent greater than that transmitted by the same amount of tendon collagen in three penniform muscles. A similar though smaller difference between these two groups was found in the thickness of their tendons relative to the cross-sectional area of their muscle fasciculi. The tendon of a slow, red, fusiform muscle was relatively thicker than those of the other muscles which were all of the fast, white type.