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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Mar 26.
Published in final edited form as: Bio Protoc. 2017 Dec 20;7(24):e2654. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.2654

Figure 1. Muscle dissection.

Figure 1

1. Starting with the mouse lying on its ventral side, use hemostats to retract skin from ankle to hip. 2. Remove the fat pad over the back of the knee. 3. Insert scissors behind Achilles tendon. 4. Open scissors to separate gastrocnemius muscle from underlying tissue. 5. Cut Achilles tendon and the head of the gastrocnemius. If the soleus is still attached to the gastrocnemius, remove it. 6. Turn the mouse over so it is lying on its back. 7. Remove the fat pad over the hip. 8. With scissors parallel to the femur cut the tendon connecting the rectus femoris to the acetabulum (knee) and continue lengthwise to the hip. Finally, with scissors perpendicular to the femur cut the tendon connecting the muscle to the iliac spine and collect the rectus femoris muscle.