M P E Wenger et al 2008 Nanotechnology 19 384006 doi:10.1088/0957-4484/19/38/384006
M P E Wenger1, M A Horton1 and P Mesquida2
Show affiliationsThe main function of collagen is mechanical, hence there is a fundamental scientific interest in experimentally investigating the mechanical and structural properties of collagen fibrils on the nanometre scale. Here, we present a novel atomic force microscopy (AFM) based scraping technique that can dissect the outer layer of a biological specimen. Applied to individual collagen fibrils, the technique was successfully used to expose the fibril core and reveal the presence of a D-banding-like structure. AFM nanoindentation measurements of fibril shell and core indicated no significant differences in mechanical properties such as stiffness (reduced modulus), hardness, adhesion and adhesion work. This suggests that collagen fibrils are mechanically homogeneous structures. The scraping technique can be applied to other biological specimens, as demonstrated on the example of bacteria.
87.15.La Mechanical properties
87.15.B- Structure of biomolecules
87.64.Dz Scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy
87.19.R- Mechanical and electrical properties of tissues and organs
Issue 38 (24 September 2008)
Received 3 March 2008, in final form 13 June 2008
Published 12 August 2008
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