We have studied the structural and viscoelastic properties of assembling networks of the extracellular matrix protein type-I collagen by means of phase contrast microscopy and rotating disk rheometry. The initial stage of the assembly is a nucleation process of collagen monomers associating to randomly distributed branched clusters with extensions of several microns. Eventually a sol-gel transi...

The importance of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in muscle is widely recognized, since ECM plays a central role in proper muscle development (Buck and Horwitz, 1987), tissue structural support (Purslow, 2002), and transmission of mechanical signals between fibers and tendon (Huijing, 1999). Since substrate biomechanical properties have been shown to be critical in the biology of tissue developm...

Viscoelastic heating induced by ultrasonic loading is an attractive method of consolidating polymer-matrix composites. An ultrasonically oscillating loading horn is applied to a small region at the laminate surface, which produces a spatially nonuniform strain energy field within the material. A fraction of this strain energy is dissipated during each ultrasonic loading cycle depending on the t...

background: laser-tissue interaction on low-level laser therapy (lllt) has widespread medical applications (e.g., improved wound healing). the tensile strength of radiated tissue by lllt is known to be increased mainly because of cross collagen bands developed after radiation. objective: in this work, we studied the instantaneous effect of radiation of polarized laser beam on the viscoelastic t...

Semi-analytical solutions for vibration analysis of nonlocal piezoelectric Kirchhoff plates resting on viscoelastic foundation with arbitrary boundary conditions are derived by developing Galerkin strip distributed transfer function method. Based on the nonlocal elasticity theory for piezoelectric materials and Hamilton's principle, the governing equations of motion and boundary conditions are ...

Background: One area of nanoscience deals with nanoscopic interactions between nanostructured materials and biological systems. To elucidate the effects of the substrate surface morphology and viscoelasticity on cell proliferation, fractal analysis was performed on endothelial cells cultured on nanocomposite samples based on silicone rubber (SR) and various concentrations of organomodified nano...

Cell adhesion on biomaterial surfaces and the vitality of anchorage dependent cells is affected by several parameters of an adsorbate layer which is intentionally or spontaneously formed. Surface pre-treatments and several conditioning steps prior and during to the cell/biomaterial contact affect the composition, orientation, quantity and viscoelasticity of the interfacing layer between cells a...