Rigidity and fracture of biopolymer double networks

Soft Matter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pancy Lwin ◽  
Andrew Sindermann ◽  
Leo Sutter ◽  
Thomas Wyse Jackson ◽  
Lawrence Bonassar ◽  
...  

Tunable mechanics and fracture resistance are hallmarks of biological tissues whose properties arise from extracellular matrices comprised of double networks. To elucidate the origin of these desired properties, we study...

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1486
Author(s):  
Daiki Zemmyo ◽  
Masashi Yamamoto ◽  
Shogo Miyata

Decellularized tissues are considered superior scaffolds for cell cultures, preserving the microstructure of native tissues and delivering many kinds of cytokines. High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treatment could remove cells physically from biological tissues rather than chemical methods. However, there are some risks of inducing destruction or denaturation of extracellular matrices (ECMs) at an ultrahigh level of HHP. Therefore, efficient decellularization using moderate HHP is required to remove almost all cells simultaneously to suppress tissue damage. In this study, we proposed a novel decellularization method using a moderate HHP with supercooling pretreatment. To validate the decellularization method, a supercooling device was developed to incubate human dermal fibroblasts or collagen gels in a supercooled state. The cell suspension and collagen gels were subjected to 100, 150, and 200 MPa of HHP after supercooling pretreatment, respectively. After applying HHP, the viability and morphology of the cells and the collagen network structure of the gels were evaluated. The viability of cells decreased dramatically after HHP application with supercooling pretreatment, whereas the microstructures of collagen gels were preserved and cell adhesivity was retained after HHP application. In conclusion, it was revealed that supercooling pretreatment promoted the denaturation of the cell membrane to improve the efficacy of decellularization using static application of moderate HHP. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the HHP with supercooling pretreatment did not degenerate and damage the microstructure in collagen gels.


Author(s):  
Lee D. Peachey ◽  
Clara Franzini-Armstrong

The effective study of biological tissues in thick slices of embedded material by high voltage electron microscopy (HVEM) requires highly selective staining of those structures to be visualized so that they are not hidden or obscured by other structures in the image. A tilt pair of micrographs with subsequent stereoscopic viewing can be an important aid in three-dimensional visualization of these images, once an appropriate stain has been found. The peroxidase reaction has been used for this purpose in visualizing the T-system (transverse tubular system) of frog skeletal muscle by HVEM (1). We have found infiltration with lanthanum hydroxide to be particularly useful for three-dimensional visualization of certain aspects of the structure of the T- system in skeletal muscles of the frog. Specifically, lanthanum more completely fills the lumen of the tubules and is denser than the peroxidase reaction product.


Author(s):  
William H. Massover

Stereoscopic examination of thick sections of fixed and embedded biological tissues by high voltage electron microscopy has been shown to allow direct visualization of three-dimensional fine structure. The present report will consider the occurrence of some new technical problems in specimen preparation and Image interpretation that are not common during lower voltage studies of thin sections.Thick Sectioning and Tissue Coloration - Epon sections of 0.5 μm or more that are cut with glass knives do not have a uniform thickness as Judged by their interference colors; these colors change with time during their flotation on the knife bath, and again when drying onto the specimen support. Quoted thicknesses thus must be considered only as rough estimates unless measured in specific regions by other methods. Chloroform vapors do not always result in good spreading of thick sections; however, they will spread spontaneously to large degrees after resting on the flotation bath for several minutes. Ribbons of thick sections have been almost impossible to obtain.


Author(s):  
C.A. Baechler ◽  
W. C. Pitchford ◽  
J. M. Riddle ◽  
C.B. Boyd ◽  
H. Kanagawa ◽  
...  

Preservation of the topographic ultrastructure of soft biological tissues for examination by scanning electron microscopy has been accomplished in the past by using lengthy epoxy infiltration techniques, or dehydration in ethanol or acetone followed by air drying. Since the former technique requires several days of preparation and the latter technique subjects the tissues to great stress during the phase change encountered during air-drying, an alternate rapid, economical, and reliable method of surface structure preservation was developed. Turnbill and Philpott had used a fluorocarbon for the critical point drying of soft tissues and indicated the advantages of working with fluids having both moderately low critical pressures as well as low critical temperatures. Freon-116 (duPont) which has a critical temperature of 19. 7 C and a critical pressure of 432 psi was used in this study.


Author(s):  
Bruno Schueler ◽  
Robert W. Odom

Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) provides unique capabilities for elemental and molecular compositional analysis of a wide variety of surfaces. This relatively new technique is finding increasing applications in analyses concerned with determining the chemical composition of various polymer surfaces, identifying the composition of organic and inorganic residues on surfaces and the localization of molecular or structurally significant secondary ions signals from biological tissues. TOF-SIMS analyses are typically performed under low primary ion dose (static SIMS) conditions and hence the secondary ions formed often contain significant structural information.This paper will present an overview of current TOF-SIMS instrumentation with particular emphasis on the stigmatic imaging ion microscope developed in the authors’ laboratory. This discussion will be followed by a presentation of several useful applications of the technique for the characterization of polymer surfaces and biological tissues specimens. Particular attention in these applications will focus on how the analytical problem impacts the performance requirements of the mass spectrometer and vice-versa.


Author(s):  
Robert Williams ◽  
Che-Hung Lee ◽  
Sara E. Quella ◽  
David M. Harlan ◽  
Yuan-Hsu Kang

Monocyte adherence to endothelial or extracellular matrices plays an important role in triggering monocyte activation in extravascular sites of infection, chronic inflammatory disorders, and tissue damage. Migration of monocytes in the tissues involves the response to a chemoattractant and movement by a series of attachments and detachments to the extracellular matrices which are regulated by expression and distribution of specific receptors for the matrix proteins such as fibronectin (FN). The VSAs (very late antigens or beta integrins), a subfamily of the transmembrane heterodimeric integrin receptors, have been thought to play a major role in monocyte adherence to the extracellular matrices and cells. In this subfamily, VLA-5 and VLA-4 are believed to be the most essential integrins mediating monocyte adherence to FN. In the present report, we have established and compared different procedures for morphological evaluation of the expression and distribution of the FN receptors on human monocytes in order to investigate their response to endotoxin or cytokine stimulation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 59 (12) ◽  
pp. 1149-1154
Author(s):  
A.D. Mamuta ◽  
◽  
V.S. Voitsekhovich ◽  
N.M. Kachalova ◽  
L.F. Golovko ◽  
...  

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