PCOMPBIOL-D-25-02638

Maximising average mechanical power output during stretch-shortening cycles of rat medial gastrocnemius muscle

PLOS Computational Biology

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Christopher Richards

Guest Editor

PLOS Computational Biology

Andrew Goryachev

Section Editor

PLOS Computational Biology

Additional Editor Comments:

As the authors can see by the comments, both reviewers were highly positive of the work and agree that it is technically rigorous and will contribute significantly to the field. In addition to small edits, they suggested minor revisions relating to the following points: 1) The literature review in the intro and discussion could be broadened and enhanced; 2) The authors could explain more clearly how AMPO is functionally relevant during ordinary behaviour; 3) The authors could consider including some example work loop plots as these are emphasised in the introduction.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Authors:

Please note here if the review is uploaded as an attachment.

Reviewer #1: my review is attached as a PDF file

Reviewer #2: In this study, the authors explore the effects of shortening vs lengthening time on maximal power during cyclical contractions with in-vivo and modeling approaches. This question has relevance across species from bird flight to human sport performance. The in-vivo work is extremely thorough as well as innovative. Likewise, the modeling work is state of the art and provides an excellent approximation to the in-vivo data. Having worked in both areas myself, I can say that this is one of the most impressive investigations I have ever reviewed. It will definitely be assigned reading in my muscle physiology course.

I have just a few minor comments for the authors’ consideration:

Line 64: The word optimum is left dangling. Optimum velocity? Trajectory? Please clarify.

Line 136: Consider an alternative work to killed such as euthanized.

Line 218: Two “at”s in a row.

Line 271: Intraclass correlation might provide a more robust comparison of model and experimental data than plain correlation.

Lines 503-528: The discussion might be strengthened somewhat if the authors related the interaction of cycle frequency and length excursion to work in human cycling crank length studies which also show strong interactions.

Line 577: Human should probably be Humans.

Lines 13-25 and Figure 1: This paragraph and figure caption provide an excellent description of work loops! Given the emphasis on work loops in the introduction, I was surprised that results were not presented as work loops. I realize the results section is already quite large and thorough, but I wonder if the authors would consider including a few work loop examples for results and discussion.

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: review.pdf

Dear Mr. Reuvers,

We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript 'Mechanical power output during stretch–shortening cycles of rat medial gastrocnemius muscle: influence of various muscle length trajectories' has been provisionally accepted for publication in PLOS Computational Biology.

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Best regards,

Christopher Richards

Guest Editor

PLOS Computational Biology

Andrew Goryachev

Section Editor

PLOS Computational Biology

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Congratulations to the authors, the reviewers both recommend to accept the ms.

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Authors:

Please note here if the review is uploaded as an attachment.

Reviewer #1: A wonderfully focused, thoughtful, and thorough revision, on top of an already extraordinarily good initial submission. Accordingly, not even the least remark remains to say, other than: Congratulations to this work! May it be well received in the world of biomechanics and muscle research.

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Have the authors made all data and (if applicable) computational code underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data and code underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data and code should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data or code —e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

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Reviewer #1: No