Study of Biomechanics of Fibrous Proteins of the Extracellular Matrix by Brillouin Scattering (CAT#: STEM-ST-0104-YJL)

Introduction

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is an important component of biological tissues. At a microscopic level, its mechanical properties are important in providing support for cells and in transmitting biomechanical signals, and the macroscopic properties of the extensive ECM of tissues such as tendons, cartilage and blood vessels are central to their biological functions. The ECM consists of networks of fibrous proteins, the collagens and elastic fibres, immersed in a viscoelastic gel, rich in proteoglycans. The collagens are a large family of proteins, characterized by disulfide-bonded triple-helical domains composed largely of proline- and hydroxyproline-containing repeat sequences. In the fibrous forms, of which type I collagen is the best-characterized and most ubiquitous representative, the molecules are regularly assembled both laterally and longitudinally and extensively cross-linked to form hierarchies of fibrils and fibres.