Gross structure and function of the quadriceps femoris in Lemur fulvus: an analysis based on telemetered electromyography.

Analysis based on telemetered electromyography from the quadriceps femoris of Lemur fulvus, a Malagasy prosimian, during walking, galloping, leaping, and a variety of postural behaviors partially confirms and partially contradicts earlier hypothesized functions of this musculoskeletal complex. As predicted on the basis of morphological criteria (large physiological cross-section and long parallel fibers), the vastus lateralis is of special functional significance in leaping. This relatively large muscle consistently initiates the leap and frequently undergoes a very long period of force enhancement via active stretch. By contrast, the vastus intermedius fails to exhibit increased electrical activity and undergoes little or no active stretch during jumps. The myological details of vastus intermedius (short fibers, no fusion with other components), therefore, cannot be accounted for as adaptations to leaping. Rather, a primary postural role is indicated for the vastus intermedius, because in normal resting postures, with the knee quite flexed, it alone is continuously active. The existence of a fibrocartilaginous superior patella in the tendon of vastus intermedius, however, is most plausibly related to the complex tensile and compressive stresses generated in the tendon during the completely hyperflexed phase of leaping. The phasic patterning of the quadriceps femoris of Lemur fulvus does not point to any special role of the vastus lateralis or vastus intermedius during walking and galloping; it does indicate very different patterns of muscle recruitment in comparison to those in nonprimate mammals and some anthropoid primates. The forward cross walk (diagonal sequence, diagonal couplets) of primates versus the backward cross gait (lateral sequence) of most other mammals probably accounts for some of these differences. Lemur fulvus lacks the degree of elastic storage and release of kinetic energy in the quadriceps femoris that characterizes the gallop of dogs, cats, and Erythrocebus patas.