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Related Concept Videos

Problem Solving on Stress and Strain01:22

Problem Solving on Stress and Strain

Stress is a quantity that describes the magnitude of a force that causes deformation, generally defined as internal force per unit area. When forces pull on an object and cause its elongation, like the stretching of an elastic band, it is called tensile stress. When forces cause the compression of an object, it is known as compressive stress. When an object is being squeezed uniformly from all sides, like a submarine in the depths of the ocean, we call this kind of stress bulk stress (or volume...

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Preparation of 3D Collagen Gels and Microchannels for the Study of 3D Interactions In Vivo
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Published on: May 9, 2016

Strain-induced alignment in collagen gels.

David Vader1, Alexandre Kabla, David Weitz

  • 1School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.

Plos One
|June 17, 2009
PubMed
Summary

Collagen networks align and densify under strain, revealing fundamental non-linear properties. This fiber alignment, crucial for tissue mechanics, occurs even without permanent crosslinking, indicating inherent network plasticity.

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Microengineering 3D Collagen Hydrogels with Long-Range Fiber Alignment
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Published on: September 7, 2022

Area of Science:

  • Biomaterials Science
  • Extracellular Matrix Biology
  • Mechanobiology

Background:

  • Collagen is a versatile extracellular protein essential for natural and artificial tissues.
  • Its mechanical adaptability stems from remodeling into anisotropic structures under load.
  • Understanding collagen network behavior is key to tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the origins of collagen's mechanical remodeling properties.
  • To probe the mechanical response of fibrous networks under cell-mimicking deformation.
  • To elucidate the role of crosslinking and plasticity in collagen network organization.

Main Methods:

  • Development of novel analysis tools and an experimental setup.
  • Probing mechanical response in a geometry mimicking in vivo cellular deformation.
  • Testing both uncrosslinked and crosslinked collagenous networks.

Main Results:

  • Observed strong fiber alignment and densification with applied strain in both network types.
  • Demonstrated irreversible alignment in uncrosslinked collagen networks.
  • Showed that crosslinked networks exhibit similar alignment and reversibility, decoupling alignment from plasticity.

Conclusions:

  • Fiber alignment and densification are fundamental non-linear properties of fibrous biological networks.
  • Plasticity is not a prerequisite for fiber alignment in collagenous networks.
  • This study provides insights into microscale tissue organization mechanisms.