Viscoelastic response of contractile filament bundles

• Verfasst von: Besser, Achim [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Schwarz, Ulrich S. [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Viscoelastic response of contractile filament bundles
• Verf.angabe: Achim Besser, Julien Colombelli, Ernst H.K. Stelzer, and Ulrich S. Schwarz
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 08.12.2017
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: De.arxiv.org
• Jahr Quelle: 2011
• Band/Heft Quelle: (2011) Artikel-Nummer 1102.5295, 24 Seiten
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• K10plus-PPN: 1566174716

Abstract

The actin cytoskeleton of adherent tissue cells often condenses into filament bundles contracted by myosin motors, so-called stress fibers, which play a crucial role in the mechanical interaction of cells with their environment. Stress fibers are usually attached to their environment at the endpoints, but possibly also along their whole length. We introduce a theoretical model for such contractile filament bundles which combines passive viscoelasticity with active contractility. The model equations are solved analytically for two different types of boundary conditions. A free boundary corresponds to stress fiber contraction dynamics after laser surgery and results in good agreement with experimental data. Imposing cyclic varying boundary forces allows us to calculate the complex modulus of a single stress fiber.