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Comment
. 2013 Jul 23;110(30):12164-5.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1310351110. Epub 2013 Jul 10.

Adaptation of fibrous biopolymers to recurring increasing strains

John W Weisel  1 , Rustem I Litvinov
Affiliations
Comment

Adaptation of fibrous biopolymers to recurring increasing strains

John W Weisel et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
The mechanism for the delayed nonlinear response to recurring increasing shear strains of a viscoelastic protein polymer with a high degree of plasticity, exemplified by fibrin. Schematic representation of repeated shear deformation with increasing strain of 3D networks built of uncross-linked and cross-linked fibers. The lower left corner of the cube represents a branch point made up of three fibers, one of which is oriented in the direction of strain. The diagrams below each cube represent the internal structure of a fibrin fiber, showing two protofibrils. An uncross-linked fiber (red) lengthens irreversibly upon shear and buckles upon relaxation. The elongation is caused by the slippage of protofibrils past each other within the fiber. On repeated shear, the buckled fiber is straightened to the same point without stretching and additional delayed lengthening occurs only at higher strain. The cross-linked fiber (blue) lengthens reversibly upon shear and restores the initial length upon relaxation. The slippage of protofibrils within the fiber is precluded by covalent crosslinking and the fiber stretches because of molecular elongation and/or unfolding.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

References

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