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Ex Vivo Assessment of Contractility, Fatigability and Alternans in Isolated Skeletal Muscles
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Ex Vivo Assessment of Contractility, Fatigability and Alternans in Isolated Skeletal Muscles

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Contractility in an extensile system.

Kasimira T Stanhope1, Vikrant Yadav, Christian D Santangelo

  • 1Department of Physics, University Massachusetts Amherst, 01003, USA. rossj@physics.umass.edu.

Soft Matter
|June 3, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed a model for cytoskeletal active matter, demonstrating how filament and crosslinker concentrations control network dynamics. This work reveals how weak interactions tune cellular self-organization and motility.

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Area of Science:

  • Biophysics
  • Cell Biology
  • Soft Matter Physics

Background:

  • The cytoskeleton, composed of filaments and motors, is a key example of biological active matter.
  • Previous studies on cytoskeletal active matter primarily observed either extensile or contractile dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the control mechanisms governing cytoskeletal network dynamics.
  • To explore how varying filament and crosslinker concentrations influence network behavior.
  • To model the local interactions driving cytoskeletal activity.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic variation of microtubule and crosslinker concentrations in cytoskeletal networks.
  • Development of a one-dimensional model for filament-filament interactions within bundles.
  • Observation and analysis of network dynamics, including extensile, contractile, and static states.

Main Results:

  • Cytoskeletal network dynamics can be tuned to be extensile, contractile, or static by altering filament or crosslinker concentrations.
  • A simple one-dimensional model accurately recapitulates the observed experimental dynamics.
  • Contractile phases were shown to produce autonomously motile networks resembling cells.

Conclusions:

  • Weak, transient interactions, tunable by local concentration, are crucial for cellular self-organization.
  • The findings provide a deeper understanding of cytoskeletal dynamics and the role of weak interactions in biological systems.
  • This work offers insights into how cells achieve dynamic control and motility through tunable interactions.