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Collagen type I is well-known for its outstanding mechanical properties which it inherits from its hierarchical structure. Collagen type I fibrils may be viewed as an heterogeneous material made of protein, macromolecules (such as…
Collagen fibrils are the most important structural component of tendons. Their crimped structure and parallel arrangement within the tendon lead to a distinctive non-linear stress-strain curve when a tendon is stretched. Microstructural…
Bone is mineralized tissue constituting the skeletal system, supporting and protecting body organs and tissues. At the molecular level, mineralized collagen fibril is the basic building block of bone tissue, and hence, understanding bone…
Collagen fibrils are versatile self-assembled structures that provide mechanical integrity within mammalian tissues. The radius of collagen fibrils vary widely depending on experimental conditions \textit{in vitro} or anatomical location…
Mineralized collagen microfibrils in human bone provide its mechanical properties (stiffness, elasticity, ductility, energy dissipation and strength). However, detailed 3D finite element models describing the mechanical behaviour of the…
Collagenolytic degradation is a process fundamental to tissue remodeling. The microarchitecture of collagen fibril networks changes during development, aging, and disease. Such changes to microarchitecture are often accompanied by changes…
Collagen is a key structural protein in the human body, which undergoes mineralization during the formation of hard tissues. Earlier studies have described the mechanical behavior of bone at different scales highlighting material features…
Bone is a multiscale heterogeneous materiel of which principal function is to support the body structure and to resist mechanical loading and fractures. Bone strength does not depend only on the quantity and quality of bone which is…
Living tissues show an extraordinary adaptiveness to strain, which is crucial for their proper biological functioning. The physical origin of this mechanical behaviour has been widely investigated using reconstituted networks of collagen…
The mineralized collagen fibril is the main building block of hard tissues and it directly affects the macroscopic mechanics of biological tissues such as bone. The mechanical behavior of the fibril itself is determined by its structure:…
Mammalian tissues contain networks and ordered arrays of collagen fibrils originating from the periodic self-assembly of helical 300 nm long tropocollagen complexes. The fibril radius is typically between 25 to 250 nm, and tropocollagen at…
The mechanical properties of collagen fibrils depend on the amount and the distribution of water molecules within the fibrils. Here, we use atomic force microscopy (AFM) to study the effect of hydration on the viscoelastic properties of…
Collagen fibrils, cable-like assemblies of long biological molecules, are dominant components of connective tissues. Their determinant morphological and functional roles motivated a large number of studies concerning their formation and…
The predominant structural protein in vertebrates is collagen, which plays a key role in extracellular matrix and connective tissue mechanics. Despite its prevalence and physical importance in biology, the mechanical properties of molecular…
The production of mechanical stresses in living organisms largely relies on localized, force-generating active units embedded in filamentous matrices. Numerical simulations of discrete fiber networks with fixed boundaries have shown that…
Advanced-Glycation-Endproducts (AGEs) are known to be a major cause of impaired tissue material properties. In collagen fibrils, the main building component of human tissue, these AGEs appear as fibrillar cross-links. When AGEs accumulate…
We apply a recently developed model of cytoskeletal force generation to study a cell intrinsic contractility, as well as its response to external loading. The model is based on a non-equilibrium thermodynamic treatment of the…
The hysteretic behavior exhibited by collagen fibrils, when subjected to cyclic loading, is known to result in both dissipation as well as accumulation of residual strain. On subsequent relaxation, partial recovery has also been reported.…
The mechanics of animal cells is strongly determined by stress fibers, which are contractile filament bundles that form dynamically in response to extracellular cues. Stress fibers allow the cell to adapt its mechanics to environmental…
Animal cells in tissues are supported by biopolymer matrices, which typically exhibit highly nonlinear mechanical properties. While the linear elasticity of the matrix can significantly impact cell mechanics and functionality, it remains…