Polymorphism of stable collagen fibrils

Samuel Cameron, Laurent Kreplak, Andrew D. Rutenberg

Producción científica: Contribución a una revistaArtículorevisión exhaustiva

16 Citas (Scopus)

Resumen

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 in vitro or anatomical location in vivo. Here we explore the variety of thermodynamically stable fibril configurations that are available. We use a liquid crystal model of radial collagen fibril structure with a double-twist director field. Using a numerical relaxation method we show that two dimensionless parameters, the ratio of saddle-splay to twist elastic constants k24/K22 and the ratio of surface tension to chiral strength ≡ γ/(K22q), largely specify both the scaled fibril radius and the associated surface twist of equilibrium fibrils. We find that collagen fibrils are the stable phase with respect to the cholesteric phase only when the reduced surface tension is small, ≲ 0.2. Within this stable regime, collagen fibrils can access a wide range of radii and associated surface twists. Remarkably, we find a maximal equilibrium surface twist of 0.33 rad (19°). Our results are compatible with corneal collagen fibrils, and we show how the large surface twist can explain the narrow distribution of corneal fibril radii. Conversely, we show how small surface twist is required for the thermodynamic stability of tendon fibrils in the face of considerable polydispersity of radius.

Idioma originalEnglish
Páginas (desde-hasta)4772-4783
Número de páginas12
PublicaciónSoft Matter
Volumen14
N.º23
DOI
EstadoPublished - 2018

Nota bibliográfica

Funding Information:
We thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for operating Grants RGPIN-2013-355291 (LK) and RGPIN-2014-06245 (ADR). SC thanks NSERC and the Nova Scotia Government for fellowship support.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2018.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • General Chemistry
  • Condensed Matter Physics

Huella

Profundice en los temas de investigación de 'Polymorphism of stable collagen fibrils'. En conjunto forman una huella única.

Citar esto