Title:	Mechanical hysteresis in actin networks
Authors:	Majumdar, Sayantan Foucard, Louis C Levine, Alex J Gardel, Margaret L
Issue Date:	21-Mar-2018
Publisher:	Royal Society of Chemistry
Citation:	Soft Matter, 2018, Vol. 14, p 2052
Abstract:	Understanding the response of complex materials to external force is central to fields ranging from materials science to biology. Here, we describe a novel type of mechanical adaptation in cross-linked networks of F-actin, a ubiquitous protein found in eukaryotic cells. We show that shear stress changes the network's nonlinear mechanical response even long after that stress is removed. The duration, magnitude and direction of forcing history all change this mechanical response. While the mechanical hysteresis is long-lived, it can be simply erased by force application in the opposite direction. We further show that the observed mechanical adaptation is consistent with stress-dependent changes in the nematic order of the constituent filaments. Thus, this mechanical hysteresis arises from the changes in non-linear response that originates from stress-induced changes to filament orientation. This demonstrates that F-actin networks can exhibit analog read–write mechanical hysteretic properties, which can be used for adaptation to mechanical stimuli.
Description:	Restricted Access
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/2289/6888
ISSN:	1744-683X 1744-6848 (Online)
Alternative Location:	http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018SMat...14.2052M http://DOI: 10.1039/c7sm01948c
Copyright:	2018 Royal Society of Chemistry
Appears in Collections:	Research Papers (SCM)

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