Echinoderms, for example sea cucumber, contain a unique collagenous tissue, with special biomechanical properties, which could near-instantly change their mechanical state (going from stiff to soft, and vice versa, in less than a second). However, the structure-function relation has so far not been exploited. Understanding how the material design of mutable collagenous tissue (MCT) enables this remarkable dynamical mechanical behaviour will help enable development of new biomaterials with adaptable mechanical properties. Currently, it is hypothesised that MCT can rapidly form crosslinks between the collagen fibrils and stiffen the interfibrillar matrix under neural control, but this had never been shown directly. In this thesis, we carried out an experimental study of quantifying how the interfibrillar matrix response to stimuli agents, to generate active forces and change conformation using a synchrotron in situ X-ray nanomechanical imaging method. By the uncovering of the mechanisms of active force generation, a valuable guideline, which could be applied in bioinspired constructs that response to external stimuli, can be obtained.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:766220 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Mo, Jingyi |
| Publisher | Queen Mary, University of London |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/44694 |
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