ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2013
Viscoelastic properties of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a self-similar, shear-thinning worm.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers.
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36 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Optimizing energetics of lateral undulatory locomotion: unveiling morphological adaptations in different environments.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
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- Age-progressive interplay of HSP-proteostasis, ECM-cell junctions and biomechanics ensures C. elegans astroglial architecture.Nature communications · 2024Article
- The influence of internal pressure and neuromuscular agents onFrontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2024Article
- Sensing of sound pressure gradients by C. elegans drives phonotaxis behavior.Current biology : CB · 2023Article
- Biomechanical Sensing Using Gas Bubbles Oscillations in Liquids and Adjacent Technologies: Theory and Practical Applications.Biosensors · 2022Review
- Direct force measurement of microscopic droplets pulled along soft surfaces.Nature communications · 2022Article
- A neuromechanical model for Drosophila larval crawling based on physical measurements.BMC biology · 2022Article
- Reciprocal interactions between transforming growth factor beta signaling and collagens: Insights from Caenorhabditis elegans.Developmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists · 2022Article
- Viscoelasticity Acts as a Marker for Tumor Extracellular Matrix Characteristics.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2021Review
- Excitation of Faraday-like body waves in vibrated living earthworms.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- A new nonlinear viscoelastic model and mathematical solution of solids for improving prediction accuracy.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Dynamic force measurements on swimmingJournal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2020Article
- Force microscopy of theMicrosystems & nanoengineering · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Undulatory motion is common to many creatures across many scales, from sperm to snakes. These organisms must push off against their external environment, such as a viscous medium, grains of sand, or a high-friction surface; additionally they must work to bend their own body. A full understanding of undulatory motion, and locomotion in general, requires the characterization of the material properties of the animal itself. The material properties of the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans were studied with a micromechanical experiment used to carry out a three-point bending measurement of the worm. Worms at various developmental stages (including dauer) were measured and different positions along the worm were probed. From these experiments we calculated the viscoelastic properties of the worm, including the effective spring constant and damping coefficient of bending. C. elegans moves by propagating sinusoidal waves along its body. Whereas previous viscoelastic approaches to describe the undulatory motion have used a Kelvin-Voigt model, where the elastic and viscous components are connected in parallel, our measurements show that the Maxwell model, where the elastic and viscous components are in series, is more appropriate. The viscous component of the worm was shown to be consistent with a non-Newtonian, shear-thinning fluid. We find that as the worm matures it is well described as a self-similar elastic object with a shear-thinning damping term and a stiffness that becomes smaller as one approaches the tail.
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