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Flow-Induced Crystallization of Collagen: A Potentially Critical Mechanism in
Early Tissue Formation
#MMPMID27070851
Paten JA
; Siadat SM
; Susilo ME
; Ismail EN
; Stoner JL
; Rothstein JP
; Ruberti JW
ACS Nano
2016[May]; 10
(5
): 5027-40
PMID27070851
show ga
The type I collagen monomer is one of nature's most exquisite and prevalent
structural tools. Its 300 nm triple-helical motifs assemble into tough
extracellular fibers that transition seamlessly across tissue boundaries and
exceed cell dimensions by up to 4 orders of magnitude. In spite of extensive
investigation, no existing model satisfactorily explains how such continuous
structures are generated and grown precisely where they are needed (aligned in
the path of force) by discrete, microscale cells using materials with nanoscale
dimensions. We present a simple fiber drawing experiment, which demonstrates that
slightly concentrated type I collagen monomers can be "flow-crystallized" to form
highly oriented, continuous, hierarchical fibers at cell-achievable strain rates
(<1 s(-1)) and physiologically relevant concentrations (?50 ?M). We also show
that application of tension following the drawing process maintains the
structural integrity of the fibers. While mechanical tension has been shown to be
a critical factor driving collagen fibril formation during tissue morphogenesis
in developing animals, the precise role of force in the process of building
tissue is not well understood. Our data directly couple mechanical tension,
specifically the extensional strain rate, to collagen fibril assembly. We further
derive a "growth equation" which predicts that application of extensional
strains, either globally by developing muscles or locally by fibroblasts, can
rapidly drive the fusion of already formed short fibrils to produce long-range,
continuous fibers. The results provide a pathway to scalable connective tissue
manufacturing and support a mechano-biological model of collagen fibril
deposition and growth in vivo.